Joe😎 plays another card 🀄 and eases sanctions
The US is partially lifting sanctions on Venezuela following the resumption of talks between the South American country’s socialist government and a US-backed faction of the opposition. The US Treasury department on Wednesday evening issued a six-month licence authorising transactions in Venezuela’s oil and gas sectors, and a separate licence allowing dealings with national gold mining company Minerven. The Treasury also amended two existing licences to remove a ban on secondary trading of certain Venezuelan bonds and debt of state oil company Petrleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), though a ban on primary trading remains in effect. The announcement of sanctions relief comes a day after the government of President Nicols Maduro and the Unitary Platform — a US-backed faction of the opposition — resumed talks in Barbados. They agreed to hold a presidential election in the latter half of next year. “In response to these democratic developments, the US Department of the Treasury has issued general licences authorising transactions involving Venezuela’s oil and gas sector and gold sector, as well as removing the ban on secondary trading,” the Treasury said in a statement. The Venezuelan government and opposition agreed to allow international observers into Venezuela for the election. They also agreed that all qualified candidates may participate in the election, and that each side may choose its candidate according to its own rules. The opposition will hold its primary on Sunday, though frontrunner Mara Corina Machado was banned in June from holding office due to her support for US sanctions and the US-backed parallel presidency of Juan Guaid in 2019. US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Wednesday night that Washington expected the Venezuelan government to start releasing political prisoners and wrongfully detained US citizens, and to begin to lift bans on all candidates by the end of November.