WP: U.S. and Venezuela agree to ease sanctions subject to election conditions

The United States has reached an agreement with the Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro to ease sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry in exchange for compliance with certain conditions in the presidential election. The Washington Post reported this today, citing its sources. The specific commitments are to be included in an agreement that the Venezuelan government will sign with the opposition. According to the newspaper, this is expected to happen on Tuesday on the island of Barbados.

According to WP, Maduro’s government will pledge in the agreement to allow international observers to monitor next year’s election and to give the opposition access to the national press. The government is also expected to pledge to allow any opposition figure to run in the election; the opposition will choose its joint candidate in a vote this Sunday. Some opposition figures face a problem because they were previously barred by court order from holding public office. They generally regard this as a politically motivated punishment ordered by the government. This is also the case for María Corina Machado, the frontrunner in Sunday’s opposition vote.

According to information obtained by the Washington Post, after the agreement is signed, the United States will allow Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA to trade with the United States and other countries. However, one source told the newspaper that the agreement does not include the release of assets frozen by the United States under sanctions belonging to Venezuela’s central bank and state-owned companies. The sanctions relief will be time-limited, and Washington could reinstate the sanctions if Maduro fails to keep his promises.

According to Reuters sources, government and opposition representatives will meet no earlier than Tuesday.

Venezuela’s opposition and government have been negotiating an easing of sanctions in exchange for free and fair elections since at least 2021. The opposition boycotted the 2018 presidential election and the parliamentary election two years later, calling them undemocratic. Because the elections were not democratic, the United States and other Western countries do not recognise Maduro as Venezuela’s president. Following the 2018 presidential election, the United States and other countries significantly tightened sanctions.