US tamps down talk of Venezuela sanctions relief

Washington has no immediate plans to ease sanctions against Venezuela's oil sector or change its policy of forcing the country's president, Nicolas Maduro, to agree to a new election, a senior US official said today.

President Joe Biden's administration also will continue to prohibit oil-for-diesel swaps used by Spain's Repsol and Italy's Eni until last year to lift Venezuelan crude, nominee for assistant secretary of state for the western hemisphere, Brian Nichols, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today.

Maintaining status quo on Venezuela policy, despite acknowledging its shortcomings, shows how little the country has featured in the new US administration's initial foreign policy priorities. Firms like Repsol have used the change of guard in Washington to argue on humanitarian grounds for a reprieve in the economic pressure tactics against Venezuela, particularly for allowing non-US companies to lift Venezuelan crude in exchange for supplying diesel that is used in power generation, agriculture and public transport.

Those arguments have found an eager audience among US lawmakers representing the Democratic party's progressive wing. Maduro's recent overtures toward his opponents present an opportunity that the US should encourage, senator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) told Nichols.

But Nichols said the Biden administration is wary of relieving the sanctions pressure against Maduro's government "that has shown that it will use dilatory tactics to prevent progress toward free and fair elections." The US administration, which does not recognize Maduro's government, is pushing Caracas to schedule a new presidential election, release political prisoners and allow free press.

Nichols also downplayed the humanitarian argument in favor of restoring the diesel swaps. "There is enough diesel capacity within Venezuela, at least for the next six months or so," Nichols said. The Biden administration is still reviewing its overall Venezuela policy, and would consider changing its policy on diesel swaps "if we see that there is a problem there for the Venezuelan people," he said.

While the US is considering diesel production capacity in Venezuela as sufficient, at least some sectors of the economy appear to face fuel shortages.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom the US recognizes as the country's interim president, has come under pressure from Venezuelan farmers that have struggled to maintain operations and distribute produce because of the diesel shortages, tightening food supply. In a press conference today, Guaido blamed the shortages on government corruption and shipments to Cuba, rather than the sanctions.

By Haik Gugarats