US lifts sanctions on Venezuela's acting president

The United States has lifted sanctions on Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, according to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. This move, announced on Wednesday, marks a significant policy shift as Washington builds closer ties with Caracas, following the kidnapping and imprisonment of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this year. Maduro currently faces charges of narcoterrorism, cocaine trafficking, and firearms offenses, which he denies.

Rodríguez and other Maduro allies were sanctioned by the Treasury in 2018 after Maduro's reelection, which the US and other countries said was rigged. At the time, Washington claimed that she helped Maduro maintain power. The sanctions included freezing her assets in the US, banning American individuals and companies from conducting business with her, and blocking her access to the US financial system, effectively isolating Rodríguez from global economic networks.

Initially, Rodríguez declared that no "foreign agent" would control Venezuela and demanded that Maduro and his wife be freed. However, she has since moved to align with the administration's demands, including opening the country's oil sector to American companies and cooperating on security. As a result, Washington has imposed control over Venezuelan crude exports, with the proceeds deposited into restricted US Treasury-run accounts rather than going directly to the Venezuelan state.

The removal of sanctions comes three months after Maduro's abduction and reflects improving relations. Last month, Rodríguez agreed to sell around $100 million in physical gold to the US, with the proceeds similarly controlled by Washington. In January, she also agreed to free more than 400 detainees whom the US considers political prisoners, solidifying a new phase of rapprochement between the two governments.