The US revokes license 44 that eased sanctions on the Venezuelan oil industry

The United States government will not renew a license that authorized transactions in the Venezuelan oil and gas sector which expires this Thursday, arguing that the government of Nicolás Maduro has not fulfilled its electoral commitments, and granted a grace period to close operations, according to information revealed by officials from President Joe Biden's administration.

“In its place we will issue general license 44 A that authorizes a 45-day grace period to close transactions related to oil and gas sector operations in Venezuela,” officials told reporters during a conference call Thursday.

With the liquidation of general license 44, however, individual companies can apply for specific licenses related to activities in the oil and gas sectors, which will be “evaluated on a case-by-case basis,” Biden government representatives specified during the conference call.

In response to the signing of a agreement on electoral guarantees between the government and the opposition Unitary Platform, in October last year the US issued general license 44 for six months, but warned that it would be renewed “only” if Venezuela complied with its commitments to hold free and fair presidential elections.

“Over the past months and weeks, we have completed a very careful review and have determined that, while the Venezuelan authorities have fulfilled some key commitments, they have also fallen short in several areas (…) the disqualification of candidates and parties on technicalities and “what we see as a continuing pattern of harassment and repression against opposition figures and civilians,” said a US official.

An official also clarified that the non-renewal of the license should not be seen as a final decision and stressed that they will continue to “interact” with all interested parties with the aim of supporting the efforts of the Venezuelan people to guarantee a better future for the country.

The license, which experts considered broad at the time, authorized the production, extraction, sale and export of oil or gas from Venezuela, and the supply of related goods and services. In addition, the payment of invoices and new investments in operations in the sectors involved.

The Venezuelan government has insisted that it is prepared to live without the licenses, which have been described as a policy of “extortion and blackmail.”

This week, the Minister of Petroleum and president of PDVSA, Rafael Tellechea, said that crude oil production is around one million barrels per day and assured that it will continue to grow “with or without sanctions.”

The US had already acknowledged that the Maduro government has complied with “certain aspects” of the agreements signed in Barbados, including the establishment of an electoral calendar and the invitation to electoral observation missions, but questioned the complaint that they have been blocked. opposition candidates.

The Unitary Platform and the winner with 90% of the votes of the opposition presidential primary, María Corina Machado, have affirmed that the government has not complied with the agreements signed in Barbados, including respect for each political actor to choose their candidate.

The coalition of opposition parties and Machado, disqualified from holding public office, reported that the government prevented them from registering Corina Yoris, an 80-year-old philosopher designated as a successor candidate.

They managed, however, to provisionally register the diplomat, Edmundo González, and they have until April 20 to make candidate substitutions with effect on the electoral ballot.

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