US Lifts Sanctions on Venezuela's Interim President Rodriguez

JAKARTA - The United States on Wednesday lifted sanctions against Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who took the helm of the country after Washington ousted Nicolas Maduro in a military operation in January.

Rodriguez's name was removed from the "Specially Designated Nationals List," according to a posting on the website of the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

President Rodriguez welcomed the decision, writing on the social media X that it was part of the "normalization and strengthening" of bilateral relations.

"We believe that this progress will make it possible to lift the sanctions currently in force against our country, and to build and guarantee an effective bilateral cooperation agenda for the benefit of our people," he tweeted, launching Al Arabiya from AFP (2/4).

Relations between Washington and Caracas have warmed since President Maduro's ouster, with President Rodriguez complying with US President Donald Trump's demands that Caracas open its energy industry to American companies.

Previously, Rodriguez was Vice President of Venezuela and sanctioned by Washington for being a key official in his government, along with other officials including former defense minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.

President Rodriguez fired Lopez in mid-March, but he has been in a difficult position between demands from Washington and demands from his own supporters since Maduro's overthrow.

While Cabello, who is still in office, is seen as one of his main supporters.

This Monday, the US Embassy in Caracas reopened after being closed for seven years, the State Department said.

The reopening comes after a US military operation that captured Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from Caracas on January 3, bringing them to New York to face drug trafficking charges they deny.

The operation killed about 100 people in Venezuela, according to the country's authorities.