US prepared to resume sanctions, other measures against Venezuela
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The US meddling in Venezuela's affairs and its attempts to impose its own agenda on the country continues as it waves the card of sanctions to advance the opposition it backs.
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US Department of State
Vice President for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols testified before Congress on Thursday that if Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro refuses to enter into formal negotiations with the nation's US-backed opposition, the United States is prepared to reimpose sanctions and take other comprehensive steps.
"We stand ready to snap back sanctions and ready to take comprehensive measures," Nichols told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in response to questions over what the lawmakers said were the Biden administration's slow and feckless diplomatic efforts in Venezuela.
Read next: Venezuela: US easing sanctions is a 'stick and carrot' policy
In addition to law enforcement action, working with partners and allies to prevent the Venezuelan President from accessing frozen assets and supporting fact-finding missions by international organizations like the International Criminal Court are some of the planned or implemented measures regarding Venezuela, according to Nichols.
Nichols cried out that contrary to the predictions and expectations of the US administration's 2020 framework for Venezuela's democratic transition, Maduro's diplomatic recognition has grown.
The United States should adapt its strategy to account for these factors, Nichols said, meaning more meddling and imposition of dictations that Venezuela continues to reject.
Venezuela is ready to supply the global oil and gas market
The US pressure and tyrannical decision come right after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is “ready” to supply the global oil and gas market to fill the gap that crippled the world following the Ukraine war and anti-Russia sanction by the Collective-West.
At an event during the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) secretary-general Haitham Al-Ghais’ visit to Caracas, Maduro stated that "Venezuela is ready and willing to fulfill its role and supply, in a stable and secure manner, the oil and gas market that the world economy needs."
During the same speech, Maduro detailed the Venezuelan oil and gas crisis and linked it to the role of the US and its sanctions against his liberated nation.
He said that "the entire Venezuelan oil industry, the refineries, the upgraders, the petrochemicals are technology dependent on the United States, there are machines that even turn off, as happens with Western technology, that sell a machine (to work) until 2018 and in 2018 it turned off and the only way to turn it on is to change a card and pay a little real (money) so that they put in (insert) the new card for four years, (...) And our technicians, workers, and scientists came and activated everything."
![In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had "engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)](https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2024/12/21/b4a69f2e-8682-43e4-9d37-49482b304ab3/3.png?v=2&format=webp "In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had \"engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)")
