After warning Caracas “many times” over the last few months, “the American government announced on Wednesday the reinstatement of sanctions against the energy sector of Venezuela, considering that the Chavista regime had not kept all its promises regarding the holding of free elections in the country”summary El País.
Washington recognized that Venezuelan power “had made progress on some of the commitments made in Barbados” in October 2023, during the signing of the electoral agreement between the government and the opposition, notably “updating electoral lists, the green light for the presence of international observers or the development of an electoral calendar”reports the site TalCual.
But “they did not respect their promises on several essential points, in particular the possibility for the opposition to participate” in the ballot, continues the independent Venezuelan news site. The White House particularly condemns the ineligibility of opposition candidate Maria Corina Machado, favorite in the polls, and the government’s refusal to register her designated replacement, Corina Yoris.
Fears of rising oil prices
El Tiempo recalls that last October, after the signing of the Barbados agreements, “Washington had issued a license, known as GL44, which suspended sanctions against the public oil company PDVSA for a period of six months, allowing the latter to make its return to the international hydrocarbon market after several years of ‘absence”.
This license, which expired this Wednesday, April 17 at midnight, was replaced by another, “giving businesses 45 days” who did business with Venezuela “to put an end to their activities and transactions with the oil and gas sectors of the South American country”explain Infobae.
Washington’s decision to “reimpose restrictions on Venezuela’s main Source of income” makes you fear, “in the middle of an American election year”a raise “global oil prices and the number of Venezuelan migrants seeking to enter the United States”notes for his part the Washington Post.
Major migration crisis
Fact, “the return of sanctions will likely worsen Venezuela’s economic problems, which have raged for more than a decade and triggered a major migration crisis in the region”analysis Politico.
When Nicolás Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, was in power, the Venezuelan government “financed significant social and public spending by exploiting the country’s vast oil reserves”, underlines the site. But between the brain drain, the drop in national oil production and the drop in oil prices in the mid-2010s, the country’s economy found itself “in free fall, causing hyperinflation and a major recession”.
Mr. Maduro’s government sought to minimize the American decision on Wednesday, observes the Colombian magazine week. “We have never stopped producing, marketing, and exploiting our reserves”declared Pedro Tellechea, the Minister of Oil. “And we’re not going to stop, with or without a license”. Unknown element Unknown element Unknown element Unknown element Unknown element Unknown element Unknown element
