US eases sanctions on state-run Venezuelan banks

The Trump administration has taken steps to reduce restrictions on Venezuela’s central bank, signaling a thaw in relations with the country’s interim government under Delcy Rodríguez. This adjustment follows a military operation three months prior, during which US forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and transported him to New York for drug trafficking charges.

The Treasury department granted permission through a licence, enabling commercial interactions with the state-controlled Central Bank of Venezuela and several other key financial entities. This change allows the institutions to operate with US dollars and reconnect with international financial systems. Sanctions, which had persisted since 2019, previously hindered the banks’ ability to move funds globally.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the decision in a statement. Director Bradley T Smith signed two licences, easing restrictions on the Central Bank of Venezuela, Banco de Venezuela, Banco Digital de los Trabajadores, and Banco del Tesoro. However, the measures remain provisional, not fully lifting the sanctions.

Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice-president and current interim president, has sought complete removal of US sanctions. During a meeting in Caracas, she expressed concerns that temporary licences lack long-term legal certainty.

“A licence does not provide legal certainty over time because it is temporary,” Rodríguez stated.

The Trump administration acknowledged Rodríguez’s cooperation, highlighting her role in opening Venezuela’s oil and mining sectors to foreign investment. Yet, opposition figures argue that Maduro’s allies still dominate critical positions. While Rodríguez has replaced some loyalists, new appointees are closely tied to her and the PSUV party.

Critics point to the recent appointment of former defense minister Vladimir Padrino as agriculture minister as evidence of this continuity. Padrino, a long-standing Maduro supporter, had held the defense post for over a decade. On social media, he praised Rodríguez’s decision, declaring, “I am leaving my rifle to take up my plow.”

With additional reporting by BBC Monitoring’s Pascal Fletcher in Miami.