US Republican lawmakers urge Biden to take tough sanctions stance on Venezuela

US Republican lawmakers are calling on the Biden administration to quickly impose sweeping, robust sanctions on Venezuela in response to President Nicolás Maduro's contested claim that he won the July 28 presidential election.

"We respectfully request that you stand with the Venezuelan people and impose tough sanctions on the Maduro regime, as well as those individuals responsible for circumventing the will of the Venezuelan people throughout the 2023-2024 campaign," Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez, who all represent Florida, said in a July 29 letter.

The lawmakers noted that the Biden administration's sanctions relief for the gold and oil sectors had not motivated Maduro to abide by an agreement to hold fair elections. "The negotiations leading up to the agreement bought the Maduro regime valuable time – as 'dialogue' with tyrants typically does – and duped many" that the election would be free and fair, the letter said.

Senator Rick Scott, Republican-Florida, called for the Biden administration to recognize opposition candidate Edmundo González as the president-elect. Scott also claimed the Biden administration had helped Maduro.

"I believe your administration helped strengthen his power when you foolishly provided him the exact thing he needed, sanctions relief in exchange for a promise of a fair election – something we all knew he would never deliver," Scott said in a separate July 29 letter.

"It is time to acknowledge that your deal with a dictator was a disaster and immediately reimpose sanctions on Maduro and his thugs," Scott said.

Maduro has claimed he won the election with 51.2% of the vote, but he has not provided records to prove that outcome. The opposition campaign claims to have gathered enough tally sheets from the election to prove that González won.

Gasoline shortages are beginning to be felt in Caracas and major Venezuelan cities affected by protests following the disputed election, according to sources.

Sanctions picture

The Biden administration in October partially eased sanctions on Venezuela's oil and gold sectors in response to an electoral agreement signed between the Maduro regime and the Venezuelan opposition.

The US revoked the gold mining license in January and let the oil and gas license expire in April, after Maduro disqualified the leading opposition candidate, María Corina Machado, from running for president. But the US has continued to issue licenses for individual oil and gas companies to operate in Venezuela.

The US is not planning to cancel the company-specific licenses it has given to Chevron and other oil companies, a senior Biden administration official said July 29. "It is not currently under consideration that we would retroactively alter licenses that have previously been given," the official said.

The administration so far is not providing any additional details about sanctions on Venezuela.

"We will assess our sanctions policy towards Venezuela, again, based on the actions that Mr. Maduro and his representatives take," Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson at the State Department said during a press briefing July 30. "But I am not going to get into the process beyond that," he said.