The U.S. on Wednesday lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, in accordance with an Office of Foreign Assets Control entry on the Treasury Department website.
The newly announced sanctions relief represents a powerful signal that the U.S. recognizes Rodríguez as a legitimate authority in Venezuela ever because the U.S. military captured Rodríguez’s predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife on Jan. 3 in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.
The pair have since been taken to Latest York to face drug trafficking charges and each have pleaded not guilty.
The move allows Rodríguez to more freely work with U.S. corporations and investors. Without explicitly mentioning the sanctions targeting her, Rodríguez, in a press release, expressed hope for U.S.-Venezuela relations.
“We value President Donald Trump’s decision as a step toward normalizing and strengthening relations between our countries,” she said on her Telegram channel after the Treasury’s announcement. “We trust that this progress will allow for the lifting of current sanctions against our country, enabling us to construct and guarantee an efficient bilateral cooperation agenda for the advantage of our people.”
Venezuela’s government didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
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Rodríguez and her brother Jorge Rodríguez were hit with U.S. sanctions during Trump’s first term for his or her role in allegedly undermining Venezuelan democracy.
The siblings — together with other members of Maduro’s inner circle — were added to the Treasury’s list in September 2018, months after Maduro won re-election in a contest widely considered a sham because opposition politicians and parties were banned from participating.
“Maduro has given Delcy Eloina Rodríguez Gomez and Jorge Jesus Rodríguez Gomez senior positions throughout the Venezuelan government to assist him maintain power and solidify his authoritarian rule,” Treasury said in a press release on the time.
Now, just months since Maduro’s ouster, Rodriguez has led Venezuela’s cooperation with the Trump administration, pitching her oil-rich nation to international investors and opening the nation up to personal capital, international arbitration, and scrutiny.
The U.S. has lifted sanctions on major Venezuelan industries. In March, Treasury issued a broad authorization allowing Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA, to directly sell Venezuelan oil to U.S. corporations and on global markets, an enormous shift after Washington for years had largely blocked dealings with Venezuela’s government and its oil sector.
Meanwhile, Maduro legally remains to be Venezuela’s president.
Within the hours after the Jan. 3 operation, the country’s ruling-party-loyal high court declared his absence “temporary,” effectively eliminating the necessity for a speedy election and preserving the protections the office grants him under international law. The court ordered Rodríguez to take office for as much as 90 days with the potential for extending it to 6 months if approved by the National Assembly, which can be controlled by the ruling party and presided over by her brother.
The 90-day period ends Friday.
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