The United States officially reimposed sanctions against Venezuela after the country’s Supreme Court blocked the presidential candidacy of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
The US Treasury Department announced that it will withdraw the license granted to the state mining company Compañía General de Minería de Venezuela CA, known as Minerven.
As announced, the loss of the license will take effect on February 13th.
The US Treasury Department did not provide a specific reason for the decision on the mining company’s license.
Furthermore, this Tuesday (30), the US State Department stated that the country will not renew a general license for Venezuela’s oil and gas sector that will expire in April, unless there is political progress between the government of President Nicolás Maduro and the opposition.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby referred, on Monday (30), in a press conference, to the Venezuelan Supreme Court’s decision to disqualify the presidential candidacy of opposition leader María Corina Machado.
Kirby announced that there would be action by the United States, although he did not detail at that time what measures would be taken.
“The Maduro regime, when it signed an agreement in October in Barbados, made some commitments about opposition political parties, about free and fair elections and what that all meant. They have until April to do this, so we have options available. I’m not going to give advance details on any of them at this time. But we certainly have options when it comes to sanctions,” Kirby said.
As of Tuesday morning, the Venezuelan government had not commented on the United States Treasury Department’s decision.
CNN tries to contact the government and Minerven for reactions on this issue.
The United States had eased oil sanctions on the oil-exporting country in October after President Nicolás Maduro’s government signed an agreement with the opposition under which Caracas committed to holding free and fair presidential elections in 2024.
After the court decision that disqualified his presidential campaign, Maria Corina Machado, Maduro’s main opponent in the country, said that the ban is not a sentence, but rather “judicial delinquency”.
Victorious in the opposition primaries, Machado was banned, in 2021, from holding public office in the country for 15 years. Despite the decision, she stated that she will become president electorally in 2024, and stated that Maduro and her circle are willing to do whatever it takes to prevent her from running.
“We are going to defeat Maduro and they know it,” he said, arguing that the authorities “issued a decision that cannot be called a sentence, it is not even an arbitrary decision, this is called judicial delinquency. That’s what happened. It is necessary to call things by their name”, said Machado in his first public act after the Judiciary’s decision.
The European Union expressed concern for opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
In a statement published this Monday, the European External Action Service – the diplomatic institution of the European bloc – stated that the “European Union is very concerned about the recent events in Venezuela”.
“Decisions aimed at preventing opposition members from exercising their fundamental political rights can only undermine democracy and the rule of law”, adds the note.
“The EU calls for the full implementation of the Barbados Agreement and the continuation of an inclusive dialogue process that can lead to fair and competitive elections in 2024. We therefore celebrate the decision of the parties to the Venezuela-led negotiation process to remain at the negotiating table negotiations”, concluded the note.
This content was originally created in Spanish.
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