U.S. rolls back sanctions on Venezuela following ban on opposition candidate from running for president

Vehicles run on a highway in Caracas, Venezuela, July 20, 2021. (Photo by Marcos Salgado/Xinhua)

Venezuela's Supreme Justice Tribunal upholds a ban prohibiting the country's opposition presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado from holding public office.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Joe Biden administration reimposed sanctions on Venezuela targeting its oil and gas sector on Tuesday, saying the move was in response to the decision by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government to ban a leading opposition candidate from running for president.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that since the Maduro government failed to honor an agreement it reached in October with the opposition Unitary Platform to allow all opposition candidates to compete in the presidential election later this year, the United States will not renew a relief to Venezuela's oil and gas sector beyond its expiration date of April 18.

The relief, known as General License 44, was issued in October to encourage the Maduro government to fully implement the agreement reached in Barbados.

Additionally, the United States is revoking General License 43, which authorizes transactions between U.S. persons and Minerven, the Venezuelan state-owned gold mining company.

Venezuela's Supreme Justice Tribunal on Friday upheld a ban prohibiting the country's opposition presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado from holding public office.

Asked about the possible reinstatement of the sanctions on Monday, John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, told a White House press briefing that Maduro and his allies "haven't taken those actions" they committed themselves to in the Barbados Agreement.

"Now, accordingly, they got until April to do so, so we have options available to us. I'm not going to preview any of those at this time. But we certainly have options, with respect to sanctions and that kind of thing that we could take," Kirby said.