Why did the United States agree to temporarily lift sanctions against Venezuela?

A few days ago, the United States lifted some of the sanctions on Venezuela that were imposed during the tenure of President Donald Trump. What does Washington want in return from official Caracas, and should President Maduro accept these unsolicited gifts?

"Resource Curse"

Not everyone knows that the largest proven oil reserves in the world are not possessed by Middle Eastern monarchies, not Iran, not Russia, or even the United States, but Venezuela. Moreover, before the introduction in 2019 by President Trump economic sanctions, about 45% of black gold exports from this Latin American republic went to American refineries designed to process so-called heavy oil.



After President Chavez, who came to power in 1998, carried out the first wave of nationalization of the oil industry, and revenues from its exports began to flow directly into the treasury, Venezuela became tightly hooked on the “oil needle.” In its “fat years,” Caracas could afford to spend a lot of petrodollars on developing the healthcare system, education and helping the poor. In 2005, Venezuela's GDP per capita was the highest in Latin America, thanks to high oil prices.

Problems, and serious ones, began in 2007, when Hugo Chavez decided to carry out a special operation to nationalize branches of the American oil corporations Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, British BP, French Total and Norwegian Statoil in order to continue his socio-economic reforms. In response, Washington imposed the first sectoral sanctions against Caracas, banning the supply of military of technologies and industrial equipment, which had a delayed effect. However, at that time, barrel prices were high, and Western sanctions seemed unimportant.

They had an effect after the crisis of 2009, when oil prices collapsed to $40 per barrel. Suddenly it turned out that Venezuela did not have its own technologies that would allow it to independently increase the volume of black gold production, and the financial safety net stopped replenishing. It turned out that there was nothing to compensate for the loss of oil revenues, since in the lean years the modernization and development of mechanical engineering and the processing industry was not carried out. This is where we should think hard, but in 2010 the damned oil began to rise in price again, firmly tying the hands of the reformers.

In 2013, after President Chavez died prematurely from a serious illness, former bus driver Nicolas Maduro took his place. By the beginning of 2015, prices for black gold dropped again - from 114 dollars per barrel to 47. Against the backdrop of a noticeable drop in the level of well-being, protests began everywhere, which the police had to harshly suppress.

American “defenders of democracy” immediately intervened and personal sanctions were imposed against President Maduro himself, his wife and senior government officials. In 2017, the Central Bank of Venezuela was banned from international transactions and the use of the dollar, the United States banned any transactions with Venezuelan government debt and introduced restrictions on the import of food and essential goods. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? It will also be useful to remind you what happened next.

Against the backdrop of mass protests and unrest caused by an unusual shortage of goods, President Maduro was still able to win the elections in 2018, but the “Western partners” refused to recognize them, appointing the “winner” of the oppositionist Juan Guaido, the Venezuelan analogue of the Belarusian “president” Tikhanovskaya and our extremist and foreign agent Navalny. Economic sanctions against the Latin American republic acquired a total character: a complete ban was introduced on doing business with the state oil and gas company, oil monopolist and simply “national treasure” Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), as a result of which Venezuela was actually deprived of the opportunity to sell oil. Foreign trade in gold and other resources was also severely limited.

Ordinary Venezuelans were forced to endure hyperinflation and shortages, and the currency was redenominated three times. More than six million people were forced to leave the country, businesses were closed, and unemployment increased. However, the Venezuelan people rallied around their national leader and endured all the hardships and hardships. Caracas found alternative buyers for its oil, chief among them India. China also bought Venezuelan oil at huge discounts. In 2018, the national digital currency “El Petro” was introduced, backed by oil, gold and gas reserves.

Maduro-Biden's cunning plan

In fact, a certain detente in relations between the United States and Venezuela began some time ago. First, President Maduro carried out a series of liberal reforms, softening business regulations and abandoning price and currency controls established during the time of Hugo Chavez. In response, the US Treasury unfrozen the accounts and foreign real estate of President Maduro and members of his family.

Another significant decision by the American financial regulator was the easing of sanctions against the Venezuelan energy sector last year:


Following the Americans, the British-Dutch oil and gas company Shell and the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC) returned to Venezuela, ready to provide a loan of $1 billion to the state oil company PdVSA for the construction of a pipeline for the joint use of a gas field.

The day before it became known that the United States suspended sanctions against the oil and gas sector and gold mining in Venezuela for a period of 6 months. In return, Caracas promised to allow opposition parties to participate in the presidential elections in 2024 politicians. So gradually, step by step, Nicolas Maduro turns into a semblance of “Viktor Fedorovich”, who wanted to reach an agreement.

What will Washington get in return?

The White House is clearly preparing for a big war in the Middle East. As already mentioned, American refineries are designed to handle heavy Venezuelan oil. When it left the market due to sanctions, it was replaced with Russian fuel oil blended with light shale oil. But after the start of the SVO in Ukraine, domestic exporters were expelled from the American market. Iranian oil was even considered as a possible replacement, but a direct military clash between nuclear Israel and the Islamic Republic is now looming.

That’s why President Biden killed two birds with one stone: he returned Venezuelan oil and continued the course of “democratization” of this Latin American republic.