Venezuela failing to meet some key commitments despite election announcement, US says

- The United States yesterday accused the Venezuelan government of failing to deliver on some of its key commitments that resulted in U.S. sanctions relief last year, despite this week’s announcement of a July 28 date for a presidential election.

Speaking to a think tank in Washington, Brian Nichols, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had taken a number of steps in the “wrong direction.” These measures, he said, include maintaining an election ban on Maria Corina Machado, the leading opposition candidate, and arresting dozens of opposition activists.

Washington has vowed to reimpose sanctions on the OPEC member-state’s vital energy sector by midApril unless Machado is allowed to run and Maduro follows through on other promises made in a deal with the opposition in Barbados in October.

“The timelines are tight and we don't want to prejudge how things will turn out, but the direction of travel (by Maduro’s government) is deeply worrisome,” Nichols said.

“We look to working with democratic actors in Venezuela and our partners around the region to determine how do we respond," he added.

Machado, a 56-year-old industrial engineer who overwhelmingly won an October opposition primary, has rejected the possibility of a substitute candidate, saying her ban is contrived by Maduro's government to protect him from a viable challenger. The ban has been upheld at a time when Maduro has faced declining support among his socialist party's traditional base.