US lawmakers press Biden administration over Venezuela sanctions policy

The United States should revoke any individual licenses allowing oil and gas companies to operate in Venezuela to pressure president Nicolas Maduro to admit he lost a July election, the chair of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee said.

At a Sept. 20 subcommittee hearing titled "Maduro Stole the Elections Again: The Response to Fraud in Venezuela," Representative Maria Salazar, Republican-Florida, said the US should immediately cease allowing Chevron and other oil companies to operate in Venezuela in the hopes of cutting off funding for the Maduro regime, which the US State Department and international observers have accused of denying the results of a July 28 election that showed opposition candidate Edmundo González won 67% of the vote and subsequently repressing internal democratic resistance. Maduro has said he won 51% of the vote, but has not provided proof.

"Chevron, Repsol, Eni, and Maurel, there is blood on your hands," Salazar said. "Blood is on your hands, and it will be on yours, the Biden administration, and on us, the United States Congress, if we do not act."

Salazar also argued that the US should recognize González as the president-elect, confiscate any properties owned by Maduro and members of his government and put a $25 million "price tag" on the current Venezuelan president.

"I am sure someone in the Venezuela armed forces would be highly motivated to put (his) head on a silver platter for that amount of money," Salazar said. The State Department has offered a $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro since 2020.

"We are going to consider the whole range of sanctioning options that we have available, based on what we see from Maduro, how the situation develops, as well as what we think is going to be the most effective response," Kevin Sullivan, the State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Brazil Southern Cone and Andean Affairs, testified.

State department holds firm

In the immediate wake of the July 28 election, Biden administration officials announced they would not cancel the company-specific licenses previously given to oil companies to operate in Venezuela. Instead, they argued that the current sanctions policy -- which began with an easing of sanctions in 2023, after Maduro agreed to hold free and fair elections, before an April 17 snapback in response to regime moves to prevent opposition primary winner Maria Corina Machado from appearing on the ballot -- had helped to produce an election in the first place.

"Really, it's remarkable that we are here now, that that election happened, the opposition was allowed to run in it, and that they were able to capture the results from that election and present them in a credible way," Sullivan said. "Our job now in the international community is to support them as they seek to ensure that the will of the Venezuelan people is respected."

Sullivan reiterated public State Department stances that González was the clear winner in the election, based on pre-election polls, opinion polls, election day exit polls and precinct level results collected by poll watchers. He also noted what the Biden administration believes is diplomatic progress in the region: The unwillingness of countries like Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to immediately accept Maduro's version of events.

"We have really been quite happy with the role that Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have been willing to play," Sullivan said. "In many cases, those leaders have had long relationships with Maduro and his associates, but nonetheless, they have recognized that the way that Maduro conducted the election and withheld the election results really is just not democratic and not credible."

Committee ranking member Joaquin Castro, Democrat-Texas, praised the Biden administration for "walking a tightrope" in its efforts to pressure Maduro without "sanctions that are put on so harshly that you essentially starve the country."

"Recognizing González, it's a double-edged sword," Castro said. "The imprimatur of the United States carries a lot of positives and strengths, but we've seen historically how it can also play into the hands of dictators. We become their foil ... as that big evil empire who is trying to harm 'us' as a country."

On Sept. 12, Treasury sanctioned 16 individuals aligned with Maduro, including members of the National Electoral Council and Supreme Tribunal of Justice. The sanctions were designed to "prompt deeper reflection of officials aligned with Maduro about how far they want to go down this path of facilitating a blatant effort to cling to power by Maduro," a senior State Department official said in a Sept. 12 press briefing.

'It's not over'

In August, average production by state-owned PDVSA and foreign partners like Chevron reached 914,000 b/d, according to estimated data included in the PDVSA production report reviewed by S&P Global Commodity Insights. That was an increase on the 770,000 b/d reported in September 2023. In May, PDVSA President Rafael Tellechea said the country hoped to boost its crude output to 1.235 million b/d by December.

Salazar said these efforts, and the manner in which they enrich the regime, made the United States look weak.

"Don't you understand that Maduro is laughing at us?" she said.

"What happens between election day and inauguration day matters," Sullivan said. "I believe, as dire as the situation is, it's not over."