The United States withdraws sanctions on Delcy Rodríguez imposed by Trump

BarcelonaFirst there was a discursive rapprochement between Donald Trump and Delcy Rodríguez. Then came the approval of legislative reforms in Caracas to liberalize the economy. In parallel, the resumption of Venezuelan oil and other natural resources extraction by US companies occurred. Following this, Trump recognized Rodríguez as president of Venezuela. And this week, two new episodes have further eased the tense relations between the United States and Venezuela, which until three months ago: Washington has resumed activity at its embassy in Caracas, and the US Treasury Department has lifted the sanctions it applied to Delcy Rodríguez.

In this way, Washington stops singling out and punishing Rodríguez after seven and a half years. The United States has removed the name of the interim Venezuelan president from the list of sanctioned individuals of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), where she was included in September 2018, during Trump's first term. In a message on X, Rodríguez has valued it as "a step in the direction of normalization and strengthening of relations" between the US and Venezuela.

Being part of this list means that no entity or natural person from the United States can conduct transactions with those who appear on it. Once an individual is included in this list, their assets in the United States, if any, are immediately frozen, and many international banks and companies, despite having no direct ties to the United States, are reluctant to do business with the sanctioned person to avoid problems with Washington.

In most cases, it also prevents travel to US territory. In this regard, Rodríguez's removal from the list may facilitate a hypothetical meeting with Trump at the White House, where the US president has already met twice with the anti-Chavista opposition leader María Corina Machado. It would be a top-level contact between the two countries, which would continue the various meetings Rodríguez has held in Caracas with important US administration officials, such as the Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum; the Secretary of Energy, Chris Wrigh, or the CIA director himself, John Ratcliffe.

In addition to the United States, the European Union has also imposed sanctions on Rodríguez in recent years. A few days ago, the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, announced that, at Spain's request, she would propose that the Twenty-Seven lift the sanctions on the Venezuelan president. For now, the decision has not yet been made.

Reopening of the embassy in Caracas

In a series of moves for an rapprochement between the United States and Venezuela, at the beginning of March the two countries resumed diplomatic relations, and this week a significant advance has occurred on this front. Operations at the U.S. embassy in Venezuela had not yet been normalized, and on Monday the U.S. building in Caracas resumed activity after seven years with its shutters down.