Maduro says fresh US sanctions on Venezuela 'grave mistake'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
23 Apr 2024 08:22
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The Venezuelan President meets with an Iranian delegation visiting the country to enhance strategic relations between Caracas and Tehran.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with Secretary General of the World Ahl-ul Bayt Assembly, Ayatollah Reza Ramezani, during a meeting in Caracas. (Maduro's official account on X)

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro described the United States' reimposition of sanctions on his country as a "grave mistake".

US officials recently announced that the Biden administration will reimpose sanctions on Venezuela, claiming that the Maduro government did not uphold "an inclusive and competitive election."

The United States "did not honor a single word of the agreement signed last October in Qatar," Maduro stressed during a meeting with an Iranian delegation visiting the country to enhance strategic relations between Caracas and Tehran on Tuesday.

He was referring to talks brokered by Qatar in September 2023, which resulted in a prisoner swap in which 10 Americans and 18 Venezuelans were released in exchange for Alex Saab, a Venezuelan diplomat accused by Washington of money laundering. Saab was liberated in December from US prison after his kidnapping from Cape Verde in 2020.

Venezuela said that Washington had also vowed to end sanctions if a presidential election was held in 2024. The Biden administration suspended some sanctions after Maduro's government and the opposition agreed in Barbados last October to hold a free and fair vote.

Washington later accused Venezuelan authorities of violating the Barbados agreement and preventing the opposition from registering the candidate of their choice.

But Venezuela's Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, accused in March main opposition leader Maria Corina Machado of complicity in "destabilizing actions" against the Venezuelan state following her disqualification from the presidential election in July after being accused of corruption.

According to Saab, the opposition's plot was to incite an anti-state uprising by rallying "the masses using labor and student unions to incentivize a military wing."

Machado later named Corina Yoris as her successor in the upcoming presidential election, but electoral authorities blocked that candidate being Maria Corina's "delegate" appointed by hand, thus ignoring the agreements that had been reached with the opposition.

As a result, Venezuela's political opposition ratified on Friday the candidacy of former ambassador Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia who will challenge Maduro in the July 28 vote.

Maduro on Tuesday emphasized that Caracas' stance remains steadfast in rejecting US hegemony, highlighting that Venezuela and Iran have consistently built a relationship "based on solidarity, brotherhood, and cooperation between two peoples, revolutions, and countries born to be allies."

Earlier, the Venezuelan leader warned that the United States had "shot itself in the foot" by reimposing oil sanctions on his country.

It is noteworthy that Iran and Venezuela signed last year 25 bilateral agreements in various fields, including oil, trade, health, and technology, during Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's visit to Caracas.