The Trump administration removed Delcy Rodríguez, the acting leader of Venezuela, from its sanctions list on Wednesday, another step toward normalizing relations with the country after the American raid on the Venezuelan capital in January in which President Nicolás Maduro was captured.
The Treasury Department announced on its website that Ms. Rodríguez had been removed from the “specially designated nationals” list, a database of people the United States has sanctioned by freezing assets they may have in the U.S., barring them from entering the country and prohibiting U.S. citizens and residents from dealing with them.
It is the first move to reverse sanctions that Mr. Trump had placed on members of the Venezuelan government and Mr. Maduro’s inner circle following an election in 2018 that was widely seen as illegitimate because Mr. Maduro had falsified the results.
Ms. Rodríguez, a longtime insider in Mr. Maduro’s government, was appointed as vice president shortly after he declared victory in that election, and she and her brother, Jorge, were both included in the barrage of sanctions as U.S. officials accused them and others of undermining Venezuelan democracy.
Ms. Rodríguez is now rapidly liberalizing the economy and opening the country to U.S. investment, but has left Mr. Maduro’s repressive government largely intact, and has ceded little political control in the autocratic nation. Mr. Trump has repeatedly praised her and has sent no signals that he would support the main opposition leader, María Corina Machado, for a leadership position or would back elections.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Ms. Machado on Tuesday and said on Fox News that “there will have to be free and fair elections in Venezuela, and that point has to come.”
Mr. Trump and his administration have quickly plowed ahead with negotiating deals to gain greater access to Venezuela’s vast reserves of oil, natural gas, critical minerals and gold, though under the threat of U.S. warships that continued to float nearby.
Lifting sanctions would allow Ms. Rodríguez to conduct business with U.S. companies without the threat of civil or criminal penalties, and it would allow her to travel to the United States for diplomatic purposes and potentially meet with Mr. Trump.
Ms. Rodríguez is so far the only member of the Venezuelan government who has been given sanctions relief in the wake of the American attack that captured Mr. Maduro. Other members of the Venezuelan government, including her brother, Jorge, who is now the president of Venezuela’s legislature, still remain on the sanctions list.
The State Department announced in early March that it was re-establishing diplomatic relations with Venezuela, and it said this week that operations were formally restarting at the U.S. embassy in Caracas.
Edward Wong contributed reporting.
Chris Cameron is a Times reporter covering Washington, focusing on breaking news and the Trump administration.
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