WASHINGTON, May 20, 2022 (AFP) – Joe Biden’s government on Thursday refused to import oil from Venezuela, two days after it announced that it would withdraw from sanctions on Venezuela’s crude since 2019. Will relax associated restrictions.
“The United States will not import oil from Iran or Venezuela,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Republican Senator Rick Scott questioned Jennifer about the high gasoline prices that are fueling discontent in the United States, accusing the Biden administration of not allowing oil exploration in the national territory, but crude from Iran or Venezuela. Looking for oil.
“Why would anyone want to do business with Maduro, who has committed genocide against his own citizens and caused millions to leave Venezuela because he has led the country to famine?” Granholm scolded.
Washington on Tuesday announced a modest “relaxation of sanctions” for Caracas, aimed at promoting the resumption of talks between Maduro and the opposition to overcome the political and economic crisis in Venezuela.
In March, a US delegation traveled to Caracas after Biden imposed sanctions on Russian oil imports because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At the time, the White House also denied that it planned to restart Venezuelan crude purchases, which had been vetoed by Washington after Maduro took a second term after the elections.
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