US sanctions senior Venezuelan officials, does not revoke oil licenses

The United States government is levying new sanctions against 21 senior Venezuelan officials and associates of president Nicolas Maduro for their role in suppressing protests after a July presidential election, but is not currently changing its approach to the country's oil and gas licenses, senior Biden administration officials said Nov. 27.

"The steps that we are taking today build on multiple actions that we have taken already to hold the current and former Venezuelan officials accountable for undermining democracy in Venezuela and to hold them accountable for violating human rights," a senior administration official told reporters. "We have sanctioned 180 Venezuelan officials and 100 Venezuelan entities. Additionally, we regularly take actions to enforce our sanctions policy to demonstrate to Maduro and his cronies that their undemocratic governance has consequences."

The new sanctions, coordinated through the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, apply to top members of Maduro's government, including security and cabinet officials, leaders of the Bolivarian National Guard, the Bolivarian National Police, the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, the Bolivarian Militia and the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, as well as other Maduro allies the US says are responsible for brutal political repression following Venezuela's July 28 presidential election.

The sanctions also include US State Department visa restrictions on individuals accused of helping Maduro suppress democracy in the country.

The administration of US President Joe Biden and international observers have accused Maduro, the incumbent, of denying results that showed opposition candidate Edmundo González won 67% of the vote in July's election, results made public by the opposition coalition's collection and publication of tally sheets from 80% of the nation's electronic voting machines. Maduro has since been widely accused of repressing internal popular resistance.

Maduro has said he won 51% of the vote, but has still not provided proof.

Oil licenses remain

In the immediate wake of the election, the US announced they would not cancel the company-specific licenses previously given to oil companies Chevron, Repsol, Eni and Maurel to operate in Venezuela. In 2023, the US eased previous energy sector sanctions after Maduro agreed to hold free and fair elections in 2024, and then in April snapped back those sanctions in response to regime moves to prevent opposition primary winner Maria Corina Machado from appearing on the ballot.

At a September hearing in the US House of Representatives, Kevin Sullivan, the State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Brazil Southern Cone and Andean Affairs, argued that the Biden administration's policy was a primary reason the election happened at all.

"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."

Those licenses will remain in place despite the fresh round of sanctions on individuals, US officials confirmed, but are subject to "continual review."

"Just because we have not taken an action so far does not mean that we will not take an action in the future," one senior administration official said.

In October, average production by state-owned PDVSA and its foreign partners was 910,000 b/d, down from 943,000 b/d in September, according to estimated data included in the PDVSA production report reviewed by S&P Global Commodity Insights.

"This is something that we're going to continue to look at very carefully, both with respect to US foreign policy interests and consultation with a wider set of partners," a senior administration official said.

Little time left

On Nov. 19, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recognized for the first time Gonzalez as the "president-elect" in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Blinken demanded the regime show "respect for the will" of its voters. Maduro has steadfastly refused Biden administration attempts to induce negotiations outlining a peaceful transfer of power. In September, Venezuela's government denied a United Nations report criticizing the jailing of protestors and political opponents.

Gonzalez fled to Spain in early November, saying he had been coerced into signing a letter recognizing Maduro as the election's winner in exchange for his ability to leave Venezuela.

At the Sept. 20 subcommittee hearing in the US House, Representative Maria Salazar, Republican-Florida, said the US should immediately cease allowing Chevron and other oil companies to operate in the country in the hopes of cutting off all funding to Maduro's regime. Salazar told the oil companies "there is blood on your hands."

That view could offer a hint at the shifts forthcoming in US policy after the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. In his first term, Trump imposed "maximum pressure" sanctions on Venezuela, sanctioning oil production and recognizing a previous opposition leader to Maduro as its rightful president. During his campaign, Trump described Maduro as a "dictator." On Nov. 18, Representative Mike Waltz, Republican-Florida and Trump's nominee to be national security advisor, co-sponsored H.R. 825, which would build upon current US sanctions by prohibiting US agencies from contracting with companies that do business with the Maduro regime.

"This legislation sends a clear and powerful message to Maduro, as well as other dictators around the world, that there will be no appeasement," Waltz said in a statement.

Trump's nominee to lead the State Department, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican-Florida, in 2023 introduced a Senate bill calling for heavy Trump-era sanctions to remain in place. Machado has urged the current administration to cancel the Chevron license to pressure Maduro, and Nov. 18 told the New York Times that Maduro's currently weakened state could offer Trump "an enormous foreign policy victory in the very, very short term" if the new US president returns to stricter sanctions in his second term.