A man walks past a mural featuring oil pumps and wells in Caracas, Venezuela, as the country faces the prospect of the U.S. reimposing oil sanctions.
Matias Delacroix/AP
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Matias Delacroix/AP
A man walks past a mural featuring oil pumps and wells in Caracas, Venezuela, as the country faces the prospect of the U.S. reimposing oil sanctions.
Matias Delacroix/AP
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — As Venezuela’s authoritarian regime continues to crack down on its opponents, the U.S. government must decide this week whether to reimpose sanctions on the country’s vital oil industry. The deadline is Thursday.
Those sanctions were temporarily lifted last October after Venezuela signed an agreement to take steps toward holding a free and fair presidential election. Instead, analysts say that President Nicolás Maduro’s regime has reneged on the deal by persecuting the political opposition.
“The list [of abuses] is so long,” says Ryan Berg, director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “I think you need some kind of reimposition of sanctions to show that there’s accountability.”
Here are four things you should know about the pending oil sanctions deadline for Venezuela.
How did we get here?
During 11 years in power, the Maduro regime has been targeted by a variety of U.S. sanctions in response to its crackdown on the country’s democracy. But the strongest measures came in 2019 as part of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign that pushed for regime change in Venezuela.
It slapped sanctions on Venezuela’s state-run oil company, known as PDVSA, which effectively prevented it from selling petroleum to the United States — Venezuela’s biggest customer. Along with about 50 other countries, the Trump administration also formally recognized opposition politician Juan Guaidó as the country’s legitimate leader.
These U.S. policies made Venezuela’s long-running economic crisis much worse because the country depends on oil for 90 percent of its export income. But even though the sanctions forced Venezuela to sell its oil on the black market at steep discounts, Maduro maintained his grip on power.
What was the U.S. sanctions relief deal?
As a result, the Biden administration last year offered Maduro a deal.
The administration agreed to lift oil sanctions for six months after Maduro envoys — during a meeting with Venezuelan opposition leaders in Barbados last October — signed an agreement laying out ground rules to make this summer’s presidential election more competitive. The deal included a legal process for reinstating banned presidential candidates, like opposition leader María Corina Machado.
The benefits for the regime were immediate.
Last month, Venezuela’s oil exports reached a four-year high. However, Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas think tank in Washington, criticized the Biden administration for lifting sanctions prematurely.
Farnsworth stated, “We lifted the sanctions prematurely before the Maduro regime had taken any concrete actions, thus losing our leverage.” Despite the Barbados accord leading to the release of jailed Americans and Venezuelan political prisoners, Maduro continues to oppress his opponents and expelled a U.N. human rights mission from Venezuela.
What are the concerns about democratic backsliding?
Although an election date has been set for July 28, opposition leader Machado has been disqualified from the ballot. Several members of her campaign team have been arrested, and polls indicate that in a free election, Machado would likely defeat President Maduro. After 11 years in power, Maduro is facing deep unpopularity due to leading Venezuela into its worst economic crisis.
Supporters of Venezuelan political opposition leader María Corina Machado sing their national anthem during a protest demanding free and fair elections in Venezuela’s upcoming election, in Bogotá, Colombia.
Fernando Vergara/AP
Fernando Vergara/AP
Supporters of Venezuelan political opposition leader María Corina Machado sing their national anthem during a protest demanding free and fair elections in Venezuela’s upcoming election, in Bogotá, Colombia.
Fernando Vergara/AP
The Maduro government has banned Machado from holding public office for 15 years on what legal experts consider baseless corruption charges. Machado then announced Corina Yoris as the opposition’s main candidate, but Yoris was also barred from registering her candidacy.
In addition, the regime has prevented millions of Venezuelans from registering to vote, with many exiles unable to participate. The regime has made it harder for exiles to vote by imposing requirements such as holding valid passports, which are costly and difficult to obtain. This has effectively disenfranchised many Venezuelan migrants.
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