The United States began reimposing sanctions on Venezuela's mining sector on Monday (January 29) after the Supreme Court of the South American country of Venezuela upheld its decision and disqualified opposition** candidate Machado from the elections.
Any U.S. company doing business with Minerven, Venezuela's state-owned mining company, must end its deal with the company by Feb. 13, citing a statement from the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The United States would allow the six-month sanctions moratorium to expire in April if Venezuela barred opposition candidate María Corina Machado from running, and was also considering additional measures to punish Venezuela, a move that would frustrate recent efforts by the two countries to improve relations if Venezuela barred opposition candidate María Corina Machado from running.
The U.S. *** committee and the Treasury declined to comment.
Many analysts were surprised by Venezuela's Supreme Court's decision last week to uphold Machado's injunction. This comes after the United States temporarily lifted energy ** sanctions on Venezuela in exchange for the holding of free and fair elections in the country.
Machado, 56, easily won the opposition primary in October. The pro-Maduro Supreme Court of Venezuela upheld Machado's 15-year ban and confirmed that her possible successor, two-time candidate, Henrique Capriles, is ineligible to run.
Maduro** reached an agreement with the Venezuelan opposition in Barbados last year to hold a free and fair vote in 2024 in the presence of international observers, which gave hope to Washington and other countries. The agreement allowed the United States to ease sanctions on Venezuela.
White House spokesman John Kirby said on Monday (January 29) that Maduro "has not taken" the actions promised in Barbados. "Of course we have options like sanctions," he said. ”