Washington on Wednesday lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, according to an Office of Foreign Assets Control entry on the US Treasury Department website.
The newly announced sanctions relief is the latest US recognition of Rodríguez as a legitimate authority in Venezuela ever since the US military captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife on 3 January in the capital Caracas.
The pair have since been taken to New York to face drug trafficking charges and both have pleaded not guilty.
The move allows Rodríguez to work more freely with US companies and investors. Without explicitly mentioning the sanctions targeting her, Rodríguez expressed hope for US-Venezuela relations, stating that the decision was part of the "normalisation and strengthening" of bilateral relations.
"We trust that this progress will allow for the lifting of the sanctions currently in force against our country, and make it possible to build and guarantee an effective binational cooperation agenda for the benefit of our peoples," she added in a post on X.
Rodríguez and her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, were hit with US sanctions during Trump’s first term for their role in allegedly undermining Venezuelan democracy.
The siblings — along with other members of Maduro’s inner circle — were added to the Treasury’s list in September 2018, months after Maduro won re-election in a contest widely considered a sham because opposition politicians and parties were banned from participating.
“Maduro has given Delcy Eloina Rodríguez Gomez and Jorge Jesus Rodríguez Gomez senior positions within the Venezuelan government to help him maintain power and solidify his authoritarian rule,” the US Treasury said in a statement at the time.
The current Trump administration, however, chose to work with Rodríguez instead of Venezuela's political opposition after Maduro's ouster.
She has since led Venezuela’s cooperation with the administration's phased plan to turn the country around, pitching her oil-rich nation to international investors and opening the nation up to private capital, international arbitration, and scrutiny.
Last month, the administration recognised her as the “sole head of state” of Venezuela in an ongoing civil case in a US federal court.
The US has lifted sanctions on major Venezuelan industries. In March, US Treasury issued a broad authorisation allowing the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, to directly sell Venezuelan oil to US companies and on global markets, a massive shift after Washington for years had largely blocked dealings with Venezuela’s government and its oil sector.
Meanwhile, Maduro legally is still Venezuela’s president.
In the hours after the 3 January operation, the country’s ruling-party-loyal high court declared his absence “temporary,” effectively eliminating the need for a speedy election and preserving the protections the office grants him under international law.
The court ordered Rodríguez to take office for up to 90 days with the possibility of extending it to six months if approved by the National Assembly, which is also controlled by the ruling party and presided over by her brother.
The 90-day period ends Friday.
