“The United States is undertaking several measures at the request of the Venezuelan interim government and the Unity platform of opposition parties negotiating with the Venezuelan regime, to support their decision to return to the negotiating table in Mexico City,” the US official said.
According to the source, one measure allows US oil corporation Chevron to negotiate the terms of any future activity in Venezuela with the national oil company PDVSA.
Another measure to relieve sanctions will be disclosed soon, according to the official.
After three years of the political impasse that has seen Venezuela’s economic and social situations worsen dramatically, Washington wants to push Maduro’s dictatorship to dialogue with its opponents.
They include opposition parties and the “interim government” led by Juan Guaido, which is recognized by nearly 60 countries, including the United States, as the legitimate government since 2019.
Despite international assistance, Guaido’s supporters have been unable to remove Maduro from office.
The person stated that the sanctions are being eased at the request of the Guaido-led interim government and are directly linked to both parties agreeing to resume discussions, “which they should be announcing very shortly.”
“The United States supports a peaceful and negotiated outcome to the Venezuelan political and economic and humanitarian crisis,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Venezuelan discussions have been frozen since October, when the US arrested Colombian billionaire Alex Saab on suspicion of laundering money for Maduro’s dictatorship.
However, two US officials visited Venezuela in March, and Caracas soon after freed two arrested Americans, increasing expectations for a thaw in ties between the two countries and the restart of internal political negotiations.
The US source emphasised that lifting sanctions would not allow Chevron to establish a deal with PDVSA or perform operations within or on behalf of Venezuela, whose oil industry has been crippled by international sanctions.
“Very clearly, none of these alleviations of pressure would lead to an increase in revenue for the regime,” the official said.
“We are going to calibrate our sanctions policy accordingly to increase pressure or alleviate pressure based on ambitious concrete and irreversible outcomes that empower the Venezuelan people to determine the future of their country through democratic elections,” the official added.
The approach to Caracas was harshly attacked by Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Giving Maduro a handful of undeserved handouts just so his regime will promise to sit down at a negotiating table is a strategy destined to fail,” Menendez said in a statement.
US concessions “ignore the cold, hard facts about the Maduro regime and its history of abusing negotiations to strengthen its political position,” he said.
