US, Venezuela Reach Agreement to Lift Oil Sanctions in Exchange for Freer Elections

The governments of the United States and Venezuela have reached an agreement in which the former will lift some sanctions on the latter's oil industry in exchange for freer and fairer elections, the Washington Post reported on Monday.

The deal would involve allowing international monitoring and media presence, as well as lifting the bans on opposition leaders to allow them to run said the Post, which cited to people familiar with the talks.

As for the sanctions, the relief could include a general license for the country's state-owned oil company, PDVSA, to resume business with the U.S. and other countries. It wasn't clear whether the deal would involve the release of political prisoners in Venezuela.

An official announcement is expected to take place during a meeting between the government and the opposition in Barbados, with U.S. officials in attendance.

The agreement comes days before the opposition is scheduled to hold a wide-ranging primary to elect one candidate to compete against the Maduro government on October 22. In the past days, different high-profile leaders dropped out of the race in favor of Maria Corina Machado, the front-runner who, however, is currently banned from running.

According to a September poll, Machado would likely be the presidential candidate, should she be cleared to run. Over 40% of its respondents chose her over the rest, and the runner-up, Henrique Capriles, had less than 5% of all support. Capriles, who is also technically barred from running, was one of the leaders who dropped out of the race, saying he wanted to make way for a "viable option."

The remaining candidates are scheduled to debate on October 18. The event will take place at Impact Hub Caracas and will be called "Proposals for Venezuela, a debate to move forward." "They will be able to address the most pressing economic issues including employment, economic growth, investment, improvement of public services, education, among other key issues," the event's coordinators said.

Although not directly related to politics, the Venezuelan government has also agreed to receive deportation flights with Venezuelans who are apprehended in the U.S. southern border for the first time in years. This could be seen as a gesture to the Biden administration, currently dealing with a migration crisis. According to CBS, about 50,000 Venezuelans crossed the U.S.'s southern border unlawfully in September. The figure amounts to about a quarter of the roughly 200,000 apprehended overall, a yearly record.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions against the Venezuelan government and some of its individuals for 15 years, but it increased them exponentially in 2019 after Maduro declared victory in elections it deemed illegitimate.

A first gesture towards this path took place last year, when the Biden administration began easing sanctions on Chevron, the main U.S. company with assets in Venezuela. However, Properties and interests of the Venezuelan government in the U.S. are currently frozen and nationals are prohibited from doing business with the country.