Biden to ease sanctions if Maduro agrees to talks with Guaido

THE Biden administration will ease sanctions on President icolas Maduro in enezuela in exchange for a commitment from the government to dialogue in Mexico City with enezuela’s opposition movement, sources familiar with the matter told McClatchy and the Miami Herald, marking a turning point in Washington’s pressure campaign on Caracas.

The new US sanctions relief will allow Chevron, a major energy company, to begin talks over potential future oil production in

enezuela, and will remove Carlos Erik Malpica-Flores, a former high-ranking energy official in enezuela and the nephew of Maduro’s wife, from a US sanctions list.

Maduro walked away from talks with the enezuelan opposition last fall, all but collapsing the fragile diplomatic effort. The country’s democratic leader, Juan Guaido, whose movement has faltered over the past year, has rested his negotiating position on continued US sanctions.

A senior administration official told McClatchy that the sanctions relief was coordinated with the opposition.

It is very important to stress that this was done in coordination with the interim president, Juan Guaid , to move the talks forward, the official said. This is something that they thought would be helpful for the talks to move forward.

The United States and nearly 0 other nations recognize Guaid as enezuela’s interim president and accuse Maduro of leading the economic collapse of enezuela over the past nine years. The Trump administration imposed severe sanctions on Caracas and even considered using force to overthrow Maduro in 201 .

The sanctions relief grants Chevron a license to begin negotiating future activity in enezuela. Chevron would need additional authorization to begin new production.

It’s a narrow license authorizing Chevron to negotiate the terms of their potential future activities in enezuela - but this is all contingent on steps being taken that are positive by the Maduro regime, the official said.

Further authorization would be needed for Chevron to get into any sort of agreement.

President Joe Biden has continued Trump’s maximum pressure campaign since taking office. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February created an opening for the administration to engage directly with Caracas.