Immigration, economic sanctions and gangs are among the points of discord between the United States and Venezuela. Know the details of this complicated relationship.
The United States and Venezuela have a recent history full of problems, marked by the rupture of diplomatic relations, sanctions and accusations of criminal activity and coup conspiracy.
US President Donald Trump, who during his first term used a policy of “maximum pressure” sanctions against Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, referred to Maduro as a dictator during the US 2024 campaign.
The government of former US president Joe Biden in April left a license that allowed the free export of Venezuelan oil after he said Maduro did not fulfill his promises to allow a free presidential election.
He also imposed specific sanctions on dozens of officials and increased rewards for the capture or conviction of official leaders, including Maduro, after the controversial election in July and The inauguration on January 10 of Maduro for a third termwhich left Trump with limited options for new sanctions.
The Maduro government has always rejected the sanctions of the United States and others, saying that they are illegitimate measures that are equivalent to an “economic war” designed to paralyze Venezuela.
Among Trump's main officials who are expected to have influence on how the administration drives Maduro are The Secretary of State, Marco Rubioa critic of “Chavismo” for a long time, and Richard Grenell, a former intelligence chief who is Trump's envoy for special missions.
Grenell has said that he is talking with Venezuelan officials and plans to meet with the opposition, whose leader Edmundo González is recognized by Washington and the European Parliament as the winner of the Venezuelan elections.
Pivot license
The Trump administration is reviewing a license that has allowed the American oil company Chevron to expand oil operations in Venezuela to recover pending debt in the country, sources said.
Chevron's license could be modified or canceled, which could end a constant source of income for the administration of Maduro since the beginning of 2023. Money has promoted the economy of Venezuela, especially its oil, banking and industrial sectors.
Rubio told the Senate that Chevron's license needed to be “re -explorate”, while Trump has made repeated comments on which the United States does not need imports of Venezuelan oil.
Some European companies that received similar US authorizations, including the Spanish Repsol and the French Maurel & Prom, could also see their licenses modified or canceled, which would leave them less margin to negotiate oil shipments with the state -owned PDVSA.
Political transition
Washington has said for a long time that it supports the democratic elections – verified by observers – in Venezuela, and the Biden administration rejected the official results of the July 2024 vote, recognizing the opponent González as elected president.
Since then, Venezuelan opposition leaders have been pushing so that US officials increase the pressure on Maduro so that there is a political transition.
The opposition leader María Corina Machado and González spoke with Rubio last week, and Rubio called González “the legitimate president of Venezuela”.
Maduro, whom both the electoral authority and the highest court of Venezuela gave him the victory in the elections, has made fun of the concern of the United States and other countries.
It is not the first time that the United States has doubted the legitimacy of a re -election of Maduro.
Reuters reported in 2020 that Grenell met secretly, without any result, with a representative of Maduro to negotiate the departure of the Venezuelan leader of power after his 2018 re -election, considered a farce by most Western countries.
Immigration and gangs
Trump has initiated a wide offensive against immigration, promising massive deportations of irregular immigrants. It is expected that among the deportees there are Venezuelans, who have abandoned their country for millions, although it is not clear where they could be sent if Venezuela does not accept them.
Venezuelan officials have long raised the possibility of migrant flights rejecting the sanctions.
Some 600,000 Venezuelans in the United States were eligible for deportation suspensions granted by the Biden Administration.
Trump said the day before his inauguration that he would expel the members of the Venezuelan Train of Aragua from the United States.
The Venezuelan attorney general Tarek Saab, said last week that his country definitely destroyed the gang in 2023, added that his office is willing to resume legal cooperation with the United States to extradite Venezuelan members of the gang.
Arrested
It is not clear exactly how many Americans or citizens with dual nationality are arrested by Venezuela, but Venezuelan officials have publicly spoken of at least nine Americans and 150 “mercenaries” of 25 nationalities, but has not given details.
Venezuela has regularly accused opposition members and foreign detainees to conspire with US entities such as the Central Intelligence Agency to plan terrorist attacks. American officials have always denied it.
At the end of 2023, the Government of Venezuela released dozens of prisoners, including 10 Americans, after months of negotiations, while the United States released a close ally of Maduro.
Citgo
It is planned to reorganize an auction of shares of the Citgo Petroleum matrix to pay about $ 21,000 million in claims for debt and expropriations of Venezuela and PDVSA, after a sales process that lasted a year failed.
A Federal Court of the United States in Delaware is auctioning the actions of PDV Holding, an American subsidiary of PDVSA and the only indirect shareholder of Citgo.
The Venezuelan government has characterized the auction as a theft of national assets, while the Venezuelan opposition wants the dispute to be resolved according to their country's law. The final sales agreement must be approved by the United States Treasury.