U.S. eases sanctions amid Venezuela talks
MEXICO CITY — Venezuela’s government and its opposition on Saturday agreed to create a U.N.-managed fund to finance health, food and education programs for the poor, while the Biden administration eased some oil sanctions on the country in an effort to boost the newly restarted talks between the sides.
The agreement signed in Mexico City by representatives of President Nicolás Maduro and the opposition, including the faction backed by the United States and led by Juan Guaidó, marked the resumption of long-stalled negotiations meant to find a common path out of the South American country’s complex crisis.
The U.S. government, in response, agreed to allow oil giant Chevron to pump Venezuelan oil.
The broad terms of the agreement for the United Nations-managed social fund were announced by the head of a group of Norwegian diplomats guiding the negotiations.
Venezuelan resources held in the international financial system will be directed to the fund, though neither side in the talks nor Norway’s chief facilitator, Dag Nylander, said whether the U.S. or European governments have agreed to allow frozen assets to be funneled to the new mechanism.
“In line with UN norms
and procedures, (the fund’s) objective would be to support the implementation of social protection measures for the Venezuelan people,” Mr. Nylander said. “The parties have identified a set of resources belonging to the Venezuelan state frozen in the international financial system to which it is possible to progressively access, understanding the need to obtain the authorizations and approvals” from foreign institutions and organizations.
A U.N. report published earlier this year estimated
humanitarian needs at $795 million to help about 5.2 million people in Venezuela through health, education, water and sanitation, food and other projects.
Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. ramped up economic sanctions against Venezuela and granted Mr. Guaidó authority to take control of bank accounts that Mr. Maduro’s government has in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or any other U.S.-insured banks.
Mr. Guaidó declared himself Venezuela’s interim president
in January 2019, arguing that his capacity as thenpresident of the country’s National Assembly allowed him to form a transitional government because Mr. Maduro had been re-elected in a sham vote in late 2018. Dozens of countries, including the U.S., Canada and Colombia, recognized him as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.
European banks also hold Venezuelan frozen assets.
About 7 million people have left Venezuela amid a complex political and humanitarian crisis. Threequarters of those who remain in the country live on less than $1.90 a day, an international measure for extreme poverty.
About $3 billion is expected to be progressively directedto the fund.
The dialogue formally began in September 2021, but Mr. Maduro’s delegates walked away from negotiations in October 2021 after businessman Alex Saab was extradited on money laundering charges from Cape Verde to the U.S. Mr. Maduro conditioned a resumption on therelease of Saab.
The Treasury Department on Saturday announced its decision to allow Californiabased Chevron to resume “limited” energy production in Venezuela after years of sanctions that have dramatically curtailed oil and gas profits that have flowed to Maduro’s government.
The decision by the Biden administration is the latest step in the softening of hostile relations between the U.S. and Venezuelan governments. It came weeks after a major prisoner swap in which Venezuela freed seven imprisoned Americans in exchange for the U.S. freeing twonephews of Mr. Maduro’s wife. Mr. Maduro released two other Americans in March.
Underthe new policy, profits from the sale of energy would be directed to paying down debt owed to Chevron, rather than providing profits to Venezuela’s state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known asPDVSA.