A worker of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA
CARACAS, May 19 (NNN-Xinhua) — Venezuela confirmed a decision by the United States to ease oil sanctions, calling for a total lifting of the US sanctions on the South American country.
“The Bolivarian Government of Venezuela has verified and confirmed the news … that the United States of America has authorized US and European oil companies to negotiate and restart operations in Venezuela,” Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez tweeted.
“Venezuela hopes that these decisions by the United States of America will pave the way to the total lifting of the illegal sanctions which affect our entire people,” she said.
The Venezuelan government “will continue to tirelessly promote a fruitful dialogue at the national and international level,” Rodriguez added.
In 2019, former US President Donald Trump broke off relations with Venezuela, refusing to recognize Nicolas Maduro as the Venezuelan president, and announced a series of sanctions on the country’s oil, finance and trade sectors.
In other development, Mexico welcomed steps to resume national conciliation talks between the Venezuelan government and alliance of opposition groups, which held the last dialogue in the Mexican capital in 2021.
“The announcement of the resumption of dialogue between Venezuela’s Government and Venezuela’s Unitary Platform (is) very positive,” Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard tweeted in MEXICO CITY.
Mexico is “ready and willing to welcome you and help make it a success,” he added, in the wake of recent announcements from representatives of the government and opposition delegations to the talks last year.
The head of the government delegation, Jorge Rodriguez, tweeted that he met Tuesday with opposition leader Gerardo Blyde with a view to “revive” the stalled talks.
Rodriguez hailed the meeting as a “work meeting for future plans, to revive the spirit of (conciliation seen in) Mexico.”
Blyde released a statement on behalf of the Unitary Platform, reporting the start of “formal talks” with government representatives to renew the dialogue in keeping with a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2021 in Mexico City.
In the memorandum, the two sides identified seven points for discussion, such as establishing electoral guarantees and an election calendar, lifting economic sanctions against Venezuela, respect for the constitutional rule of law, and political and social coexistence. — NNN-XINHUA
