Venezuela’s acting president says U.S. unfreezing sanctioned funds

Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodríguez looks on during the delivery of the first year's government report at Palacio Federal Legislativo on January 15, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

The United States has started unblocking Venezuelan funds that were frozen due to sanctions, the South American country’s interim president said on Tuesday.

“We are unfreezing resources from Venezuela that belong to the Venezuelan people,” Delcy Rodriguez, acting as president instead of toppled leader Nicolas Maduro, said on state TV.

“This will allow us to invest significant resources in equipment for hospitals -- equipment we are acquiring in the United States and in other countries.”

She did not specify the amount.

Caracas has been sanctioned by the United States since 2019, following Maduro’s first disputed claim to reelection the previous year.

Since Maduro’s ouster by a deadly U.S. military operation on January 3, various agreements have been struck between Washington and the interim Venezuelan regime.

“I reaffirm what President Donald Trump has said: that we have established channels of communication marked by respect and courtesy, both with the President of the United States and with Secretary (Marco) Rubio, with whom we are establishing a work agenda,” Rodriguez said Tuesday.

Rodriguez has sought to improve ties with Trump, who has vowed repercussions if her interim government -- made up of Maduro loyalists -- does not toe Washington’s line.

This includes granting access to Venezuela’s vast oil resources.

Trump has called Rodriguez’s leadership “very strong” and said the United States is already taking a cut of Venezuela’s oil.

She insists her country is not under U.S. tutelage.

Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves and was once a major crude supplier to the U.S., with multiple American firms operating in the country until 2007.

Another change unfolded in Caracas last week, with the United States confirming Laura F. Dogu -- a former ambassador to Nicaragua and Honduras -- as the new charge d’affaires to Venezuela.

That was seen as a step toward restoration of full diplomatic ties severed in 2019.

Maduro had estimated in 2022 that funds blocked by sanctions amounted to only about $30 billion.

AFP