After Getting Played by Maduro, Biden Admin Gives Venezuela April Deadline for Return of Oil Sanctions

NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby gave socialist Venezuela a deadline of April to commit to a “free and fair” presidential election in remarks on Monday, threatening the restoration of oil and gas sanctions lifted by U.S. President Joe Biden.

The announcement comes after Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) recently upheld a ban imposed on top opposition candidate María Corina Machado that prevents her from running against socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro in the yet-to-be scheduled “free and fair” election.

“Now, accordingly, they [the Maduro regime] got until April to do so, so we have options available to us. I’m not going to preview any of those at — at this time.  But we certainly have options, with respect to sanctions and that kind of thing that — that we could take,” Kirby said.

“They — they’ve got until April. They need to make the right decisions here and allow opposition members to run for office and release the political prisoners that they’re holding right now,” he continued.

The Maduro regime and the Venezuelan “opposition” signed a series of agreements in Barbados in October to work towards a “free and fair” presidential election to take place sometime in the second half of 2024.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, center, and first lady Cilia Flores arrive to the National Assembly for the annual presidential address in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Some of the terms of the agreement called for the lifting of existing bans issued on several politicians that prevent them from running for office. The Venezuelan top court, controlled in its entirety by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), had been “reviewing” the appealed bans, ruling against Machado and perennial and twice failed presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski on Friday and lifting bans imposed on five lesser-known “opposition” figureheads.

In addition to keeping his top competition off the ballot, Maduro recently launched a crackdown on political dissidents named “Bolivarian Fury.” Within the first hours of the plan’s activation, the state kidnapped three of Machado’s senior campaign staff members. At least ten of the regional headquarters of Machado’s center-right party Vente Venezuela were reportedly assaulted and vandalized, presumably by socialist regime supporters.

Despite doing nothing indicating a commitment to allow an actual free and fair election, U.S. President Joe Biden provided the rogue socialist regime with a broad oil and gas sanctions relief package that restored Maduro’s main source of revenue by allowing the state-owned PDVSA oil company to once again freely sell oil and gas in U.S. and international markets. 

Biden also released Maduro’s alleged top money launderer Alex Saab as part of a prisoner swap. The White House asserted that the decision to release Saab is part of the Biden Administration’s efforts to curb the large flow of illegal migrants coming from Venezuela.

Although the Biden administration gave the Maduro regime an April deadline, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a license on Monday that reversed sanctions relief to the state-owned Minerven gold company that was part of the broader October package.

Socialist dictator of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro dances on state television, April 2023. (Screenshot)

“Unless Maduro and his representatives in Venezuela are able to get back on track, specifically with regard to allowing all presidential candidates to compete in this year’s election, we will not be in a position to renew General License 44, which provides relief to Venezuela’s oil and gas sector when it comes up for renewal in April,” an anonymous White House source told Reuters.

The Biden Administration had previously given the Maduro regime a November 30 deadline to lift the ban on Machado or it would reimpose oil and gas sanctions. The Maduro regime responded by allowing the candidates to appeal their respective bans at the nation’s top court in December, finally issuing a ruling against Machado over the weekend.

Nicolás Maduro claimed in the latest edition of his weekly television show With Maduro Plus that the TSJ’s ruling against Machado is “definitely firm,” claiming that the decision did not violate the agreements signed and shifting the blame on the opposition, which he accused of “failing to comply” with the agreements.

“Despite the threats and blackmail of the American empire, Venezuela’s institutions have functioned and I say: Barbados agreement, Supreme Court of Justice, this is res judicata and a definitively firm decision,” Maduro said.

Jorge Rodríguez, head of the Venezuelan National Assembly and one of the socialist regime’s most powerful officials, warned on Monday that Venezuela will “respond with severity” if the United States decides to reimpose the presently lifted sanctions and/or decides to impose newer ones.

“We are very attentive to the actions taken [by Washington] in the coming days that could be considered aggressive towards the right of this country to live in peace, to progress and to the lifting of all unilateral coercive measures,” Rodríguez said. “If there is any aggressive action, our response will be severe, reciprocal and energetic.”

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.