David Maris / Univision
On Thursday, February 15, the Venezuelan government suspended the advisory office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and demanded 13 UN employees working in Caracas to leave the country.
«The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela announces its decision to suspend the technical advisory office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Venezuela, whose staff must leave the country within 72 hours», said Yvan Gil, the republic’s Foreign Minister.
Gil accused the UN office in Venezuela of «a biased and partial position, the constant desire to achieve impunity for those involved in assassination attempts, coups, plots and other serious attacks on sovereignty and the constitution».
At the same time, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister reiterated «the willingness to continue cooperation with international mechanisms for the protection of human rights, which is based on genuine dialog and developed in strict compliance with the principles of objectivity, non-selectivity, impartiality, respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs».
The day before, the international UN mission expressed its «deep concern» over the arrest of activist Rocio San Miguel, head of the nongovernmental organization Control Ciudadano, who was detained last week for her involvement in a plot to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro. In his annual address to the National Assembly and at a Jan. 23 rally, Nicolas Maduro reported «the uncovering of five far-right opposition plots involving U.S. intelligence services, the prevention of coup attempts and the assassinations of the head of state, the defense minister, the military command and the governor of Táchira state». Maduro accused the opposition Unitary Platform association of violating an agreement made with authorities on October 17, 2023 in Barbados.
Venezuela is due to hold presidential elections between July and December 2024. The exact date is not yet known, but it was agreed back in October last year in Barbados by delegations from the government of Nicolas Maduro and the opposition Unitarian Platform, under the close supervision of the United States. The signed «Partial Agreement on the Promotion of Political Rights and Electoral Guarantees for All» for the 2024 presidential elections, according to the U.S. administration, should allow all opposition leaders to participate in the elections.
However, the Barbados agreement was based on «electoral guarantees» and did not mention specific individuals who were legally barred from running for president because of offenses. Venezuelan officials have repeatedly insisted that legally disqualified opposition members would still be ineligible. According to Hector Rodriguez, a member of the Venezuelan government delegation to the Barbados talks, «forgiveness of crimes has never been on the negotiating agenda». U.S. observers didn’t argue with that.
At the same time, the Biden administration lifted some economic sanctions targeting Venezuela’s mining, oil and gas industries.
«We granted a license for six months to ease some of the sanctions. Those six months will expire in April. By then, we will assess how the Maduro regime is meeting its obligations and we’ll decide what to do next», said Jake Sullivan, the U.S. president’s National Security Advisor.
The U.S. Department of State made it clear that it intends to renew oil and gas sanctions from April 18 if there is no progress between «Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro» and the opposition «especially on the issue of allowing all presidential candidates to run in this year’s elections», read a statement from the State Department.
The White House was concerned only one presidential candidate from the opposition — Maria Corina Machado, on whom the main bet is made to change the Venezuelan power of the Chavistas.
Recall, Maria Machado was banned from running for public office after she repeatedly testified against her own country, was found guilty of tax evasion and fraud, called for US military intervention and harsh economic sanctions against the government of Nicolas Maduro and participated in coup attempts. In the U.S., 467 people involved in the 2021 Capitol riots were sentenced to prison for lesser evils.
Usually in Venezuela, as in the U.S., opposition presidential primaries are conducted by national electoral bodies. But Machado last year organized the primaries privately and with many irregularities. There was not only the exclusion of some opposition parties, but also the destruction of voting protocols immediately after the election, which ruled out any accountability when some members of her own coalition reported fraud.
Machado adamantly refused to challenge her electoral disqualification before Venezuela’s Supreme Court. But when Washington ordered her to appear before the tribunal late last year, she dutifully complied. The fact that Machado’s appeal would be rejected was obvious in the first place to the U.S. presidential administration itself.
Luis Vicente Leon, president of the opposition Venezuelan polling company Datanalisis, recognized, «To be honest, the U.S. government knew perfectly well this was going to happen».
In late January, Venezuela’s Supreme Court confirmed an earlier ruling: opposition presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado is ineligible to run in the presidential election. In other words, Venezuelans did not succumb to blackmail and did not allow the criminal to run for the highest office of the state.
The New York Times immediately called the Supreme Court’s decision «a crushing blow to the prospects of electoral arrangements in exchange for lifting crippling U.S. economic sanctions».
The U.S. accused Venezuelan authorities of violating the Barbados agreement, reimposed sanctions on Venezuelan gold exports and said it could renew oil sanctions in April if Venezuela does not correct course. The U.S. Treasury Department revoked General License-43, which authorized transactions with Venezuelan mining conglomerate CVG-Minerven.
U.S. economic sanctions against the mining company, analysts said, are unlikely to do much damage to Venezuela’s economy. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez called the move «blackmail», warning that Caracas would stop cooperating in repatriation flights for Venezuelan migrants from the U.S. if Washington’s «economic aggression» intensified.
Re-imposing oil and gas sanctions could hurt Venezuelan exports, but not to the extent the U.S. expects, analysts said. Fernando Ferreira, director of geopolitical risk at Rapidan Energy Group, said the reimposition of sanctions would cause Venezuela’s oil production to fall 30% to 600,000 barrels a day within a few months. But it could also negatively affect the domestic U.S. oil and gas market, as several U.S. companies, including Chevron, operate in Venezuela and Venezuelan oil is regularly exported to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Finam Financial Group cites the opinion of Mike Sommers, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API), who claims that US refineries have to actively purchase oil from Venezuela amid a reduction in supplies from Russia. It has been reported that for 11 months of last year the US purchased oil from Venezuela for a total amount of more than $2.5 billion, i.e. about 0.15% of all oil imports by the States. In case of a shortage of raw materials and the closure of one of the refineries, the consequences for gasoline prices in the U.S. could be tangible.
According to Bloomberg, after the U.S. allowed American companies to cooperate with state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA, Venezuela’s oil production in January this year increased 22% from a year earlier. The publication’s analysts estimated that the country’s oil revenues would rise from $2 to $3 billion this year if sanctions return (without sanctions, the increase was expected to be from $6 to $8 billion).
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has its own reasons for not lifting sanctions as well. A more stable supply of crude oil from the South American country could help keep global oil prices — and, more importantly, U.S. gasoline prices — under control. On the other hand, the administration is already having to deal with the discontent of U.S. refineries designed for heavy grades of crude, and retooling refineries would be expensive for refiners.
Biden, who potentially faces stiff competition with Donald Trump for re-election, also needs to find ways to stem the tide of migration to the US. A healthier Venezuelan economy could slow the outflow of Venezuelans. As a recent Congressional Research Service report recognized, U.S. sanctions have «failed» in their hidden goal of toppling the Maduro regime, but have exacerbated an economic crisis that has «prompted 7.7 million Venezuelans to flee the country». In turn, The Hill published an article, stating that «sanctions continue to hurt ordinary Venezuelans and fuel migration». The Hill believes that the Yankees’ unfortunate decision is rather what Forbes calls «Washington’s harsh response», knowingly causing «immense» human suffering. And not only in Venezuela, but also in the United States itself, which is on the brink of civil war because of migrants.
Some Democrats in Congress have called for an end to U.S. sanctions. Corporations such as Chevron are pushing to reopen the Venezuelan market. The UN has strongly condemned «unilateral coercive economic measures» against Venezuela. Mexico insists that Biden address the root causes of migration. Other governments in Latin America and beyond the continent are also pressuring the U.S. to lift sanctions. Meanwhile, experts in the international protection of human rights condemn Washington for «unlawful collective punishment».
White House spokesman John Kirby said Maduro has time until April to return to the negotiating table and implement what was agreed to last year, including holding free elections in which all candidates are allowed to run, or the sanctions could be reimposed. Blackmail or pressure?
Perhaps it’s not just the U.S. economy that would benefit more from developing mutually beneficial relationships with the 40 countries targeted by the sanctions. And the surest remedy for the immigration crisis on the nation’s southern border is to lift sanctions that create conditions that force millions of people, primarily from countries sanctioned by the states, to flee their homes.
«We don’t like to talk about it publicly, but we’re basically the peace police», former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official Wes Tabor told the Associated Press. Even the U.S. mainstream media has almost unanimously concluded that the sanctions are «not working» and that U.S. policemen are not good at all — they maintain disorder rather than order.