Washington, Feb 27 (IANS) President Donald Trump has said the US will be reversing “concessions” on “the oil transaction agreement” with Venezuela under the Biden administration, citing unmet electoral conditions by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and a dissatisfaction with the pace of transporting violent undocumented Venezuelan criminals back to their home country.
“I am therefore ordering that the ineffective and unmet Biden ‘Concession Agreement’ be terminated as of the March 1 option to renew. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he said on Wednesday on Truth Social.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump said that the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has not made improvements in areas such as election reform and immigration enforcement.
“We are hereby reversing the concessions that Crooked Joe Biden gave to Nicolas Maduro, of Venezuela, on the oil transaction agreement, dated November 26, 2022, and also having to do with Electoral conditions within Venezuela, which have not been met by the Maduro regime,” Trump said in the post.
It was part of the Biden administration’s effort to ease restrictions on certain financial transactions involving Venezuela, particularly in the oil sector, amid ongoing negotiations between the Maduro government and the Venezuelan opposition to promote free and fair elections in Venezuela. But some sanctions were reimposed after Maduro blocked the Opposition candidate, Maria Corina Machado, from the presidential election.
In 2022, the Biden administration issued the US energy giant Chevron a licence to expand production in oil-rich Venezuela.
At the time, the US was taking cautious steps to lower tensions with the Maduro government, partly in the hope of spurring greater collaboration on energy.
Then, in October 2023, officials in Maduro’s administration signed a pair of deals called the Barbados Agreement, which affirmed its commitment to a free and fair election carried out under the observation of international election experts.
Though Trump does not explicitly mention Chevron, the Biden administration authorised Chevron to “resume limited natural resource extraction operations in Venezuela,” according to the Treasury Department at the time.
Trump said that this authorisation would not be renewed on March 1, as it normally would be, but terminated.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez criticised what she called Trump’s “damaging and inexplicable decision”.
“The US government has made a damaging and inexplicable decision by announcing sanctions against the US company Chevron. In its attempt to harm the Venezuelan people, it is in fact hurting the United States, its population and its companies, and also calling into question the legal security of the US’ international investment regime,” she said in a statement.
The Trump administration has also sought to warehouse Venezuelan immigrants in Guantanamo Bay, a military base best known for its status as a detention and torture centre used to hold alleged combatants during the so-called war on terror.
While the government has described the Venezuelans held there as gang members and dangerous criminals, many have no serious criminal record, aside from immigration-related charges.
Several members of Trump’s current foreign policy team have a long history of hawkish statements on Venezuela. Some have even articulated ambitions to replace the Maduro government with one more friendly to US interests.
–IANS
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