U.S. will reinstate Venezuela sanctions if communist regime fails to fulfill electoral commitments

The United States will reinstate some sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry due to the “lack of progress” on the path to free and transparent elections, a State Department spokesperson told Reuters on Monday.

This is a temporary license that expires this Thursday and has eased sanctions on Venezuela's oil and gas sector since October.

“In the absence of progress by Maduro and his representatives in terms of implementing the provisions of the roadmap, the United States will not renew the license when it expires on April 18, 2024,” the spokesperson said.

The United States lifted sanctions on Venezuela last year after the Barbados agreements, aiming to give the Maduro regime incentives to hold free elections this year.

However, this lifting of sanctions was temporary and was subject to progress in the electoral process in the South American country.

In the absence of progress, the United States had reimposed sanctions on the gold sector in January, warning that if the situation did not improve, they would let the oil and gas licenses that had been granted in Venezuela expire.

A survey published last week indicated that at least 44.6% of the Venezuelan population would consider emigrating if Nicolás Maduro were elected for the third time in the elections on July 28.

The results of the survey carried out by Meganalisis are alarming in the midst of the largest exodus ever recorded in the history of that nation, which, according to data from international organizations such as the United Nations, has led some 7.7 million Venezuelans to migrate to various countries, amounting to about 20% of the population