Venezuela Gets New Sanctions From US After Ban on Opposition Candidate Maria Corina Machado Was Upheld

The Biden administration began reinstating sanctions against Venezuela on Monday after Nicolas Maduro broke one of their agreements on a free and fair election by going after the Venezuelan opposition again, with the country's Supreme Court upholding the ban against opposition candidate Maria Corina Machado from holding public office.

Following the announcement of the return of sanctions, the US Treasury Department gave a February 13 deadline for the winding down of any transactions between any US entities and the Venezuelan state-owned gold mining firm Minerven.

The US allowed business dealings with the Venezuelan mining firm following the deal with the Maduro regime that had the US partially lift sanctions on Venezuela in exchange for free and fair elections. The deal included having Venezuela lift bans on politicians not allowed to hold office, which the Maduro regime did not fulfill.

According to Reuters, the reimposition of sanctions against Venezuela came just hours after a Biden administration official commented on the issue, saying that "the Treasury license that broadly restored dealings with Venezuela's oil industry would be allowed to expire on April 18 if Maria Corina Machado and other opposition figures are not allowed to compete against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in this year's election."

It was the Supreme Court of Venezuela, which is strongly allied with President Nicolas Maduro, that reaffirmed the ban on Maria Corina Machado after she won the opposition primary via a landslide last year, getting over 90% of the vote.

Venezuela Opposition Candidate Maria Corina Machado Cries Foul Over Reaffirmation of Disqualification

Despite her ban on holding public office remaining on, opposition candidate Maria Corina Machado, who was supposed to take on Nicolas Maduro later this year, remains defiant and called her ban a "judicial criminality" and vowed to stay in the race.

In a speech in front of supporters and reporters, she admitted that she expects government repression to increase against her and her team because it is the only tool Maduro and his allies have left against them, adding that "the best option" for her political rival is "to negotiate with us a peaceful transition," according to the Associated Press.

"It cannot be called a sentence. It is not even an arbitrary decision. This is called judicial criminality," Machado said in her speech, addressing the Supreme Court decision. "If they believe that they declared my disqualification, then let them know well, they declared the end of this tyranny ... because people are clear and are not going to allow themselves to be stripped of their October 22 decision."

Venezuela Suffered Economically Under Nicolas Maduro

Under the Maduro regime, Venezuela suffered a massive social and economic crisis despite the country being rich in oil, and this was made worse by US sanctions. As Yahoo! News pointed out, this led to many fleeing the country in search of a better life, fueling the current US migrant crisis.

Maduro's mismanagement has been one of the main reasons for this economic downturn in Venezuela, with the regime being accused of downright corruption and the mishandling of funds that the government reportedly made with oil and mining.

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Written by: Rick Martin

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