The United States has lifted sanctions against a nephew of the wife of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, the US Treasury Department announced on Friday. The announcement comes weeks after Washington said it has eased sanctions and taken steps to encourage dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition.
Carlos Erik Malpica Flores had been included on the US sanctions list in 2017 for alleged links to acts of corruption. According to the Venezuelan press, he is 49 years old and has held three of the most important positions in the Venezuelan public service: national treasurer, financial director of the state oil company PDVSA and director of the Development Bank of Venezuela. He also worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Parliament and in the secretariat of the Presidency.
In May, the administration of US President Joe Biden said that the Venezuelan opposition, which Washington considers an interim government, had called for a series of measures to pave the way for dialogue with Maduro. In addition to lifting the sanction against Flores, the White House authorized Chevron, the only US oil company that still has assets in Venezuela, to negotiate with PDVSA.
Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he believed that negotiations between the government and the opposition, led by Juan Guaidó, in Mexico City would soon resume. Last year, the opposition and the Maduro regime began an attempt at dialogue in the Mexican capital, but the dictator suspended negotiations in October in retaliation for the extradition from Cabo Verde to the United States of Alex Saab, a businessman considered his front man.
This Friday (17), Gerardo Blyde, from Plataforma Unitarian, Guaidó’s political group, wrote on social media that the alliance “worked very closely with the United States on specific actions aimed at reactivating the negotiation process (…) in search of solutions to the serious crisis that affects the Venezuelan people”.
The United States recognizes Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president after the 2018 elections, which it considers fraudulent, although in practice power in the country is exercised by the Chavista dictator.
That year, after the elections, former Republican President Donald Trump launched a lobbying campaign to remove Maduro from power. But Maduro survived, with the support of the Armed Forces, as well as Russia, China and Cuba. As a result, some lawmakers from the left wing of the Democratic Party are calling for the United States to resume dialogue with the Venezuelan, but there is still reluctance among other more conservative Democrats and Republicans.
