Report: US, Venezuela in Talks to Ease Oil Sanctions

Amid high gas prices, the Biden administration is offering sanctions relief to spur oil production in the South American country in exchange for electoral reforms.

The US is achieving progress in talks that may result in the easing of some sanctions on the Venezuelan oil and banking sectors, according to reports in US media. The information emerged Monday from multiple sources with knowledge of the negotiations.

Mediation has taken place on two fronts. Most recently, representatives from the US and Venezuela have met in Doha, Qatar, where the US has urged Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to provide guarantees regarding upcoming presidential elections.

On-again, off-again talks have also taken place between the Maduro government and Venezuela’s political opposition over the last several years. The US wants Maduro to agree to resume those talks in Mexico, in exchange for the US permitting a foreign oil company to accept Venezuelan crude oil.

The reports come amidst rising oil prices in the wake of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, which saw the Biden administration take significant economic measures against Russia. Prices are up from around $22 per barrel in April 2020 to $85 per barrel as of this month, creating significant upward pressure on fuel prices for American consumers.

With oil from other traditional providers now off the table, the Biden administration is hoping to resume greater processing from Venezuela’s significant reserves, although it will take time for the country’s heavy crude to be extracted, processed, and brought to market. With US presidential elections about a year away, Biden is operating on a limited timetable.

The Maduro government, for their part, hopes to eventually double crude output as the country achieves tentative economic growth after years of crisis. Foreign firms hope to settle long standing debt with the country through renewed acceptance of Venezuelan oil.

Relations between the US and Venezuela have been strained since the 1999 inauguration of Hugo Chávez, who came to power in Venezuela touting his Bolivarian Revolution which promised to redistribute wealth and power to the country’s poor.

The leftist president emulated programs in revolutionary Cuba and Sandinista Nicaragua with the establishment of social missions that achieved significant progress in addressing illiteracy, homelessness and lack of medical care.

Chávez frequently attacked the United States for their long history of interference in the region. His rhetoric provoked the ire of the George W. Bush administration, which helped organize a coup that briefly removed Chávez from power before he was restored 48 hours later.

Relations worsened in 2015 when, alleging deteriorating democratic conditions, the Obama administration placed economic sanctions on Venezuela, declaring the country an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

Those sanctions were dramatically expanded by US President Donald Trump in 2018 as Washington criticized the reelection of Maduro, a Chávez ally, citing use of state resources for his electoral campaign among other concerns. Sanctions, along with a decline in oil prices, have battered Venezuela’s economy in the years since; a UN report alleged tens of thousands of excess deaths in the country caused by sanctions that enforce “collective punishment of the civilian population.”

A political crisis has persisted alongside the economic one. Opposition figures allege unfair electoral conditions, although opposition parties have also remained intensely divided over the question of whether to support the US sanctions. Maduro has criticized the sanctions as a form of electoral interference, stating recently, “​​We want elections free from sanctions, blockades, aggression, [and] economic warfare.”

Recently, some Democratic Party politicians in the US have also called for the lifting of sanctions against Venezuela. Millions of Venezuelans have fled amidst the political and economic turmoil, although the country’s socialist government continues to invest significant resources into social programs, including a public housing mission that’s constructed more than 4.5 million homes for poor Venezuelans.