Venezuelan Opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

Ana Corina Sosa, daughter of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, holds the Vaclav Havel human Rights Prize awarded at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg eastern France, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

The Council of Europe on Monday (September 30, 2024) awarded its 2024 rights prize to Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado for her struggle for democracy under President Nicolas Maduro’s iron-fisted rule.

Ms. Machado said she was “deeply moved, honoured and grateful” to be the first Latin American to win the award, named after the late Czech dissident, playwright and post-communist president Vaclav Havel.

She is currently in hiding in Venezuela in the wake of presidential elections Mr. Maduro claims to have won, an outcome furiously contested by the opposition.

The award was received on her behalf at Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg by her daughter Ana.

“I want to dedicate this recognition to the millions of Venezuelans who, every day, embody Havel’s values and ideas,” Ms. Machado said in a video address.

Her movement had demonstrated “the victory of democrats over dictatorship”, she said, adding: “Today our struggle continues, because the truth persists until it prevails.”

Ms. Machado, 56, played a key role in Venezuela’s presidential election in July. Although the authorities proclaimed Mr. Maduro the winner, the opposition believes its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won.

Ms. Machado is currently in hiding in Venezuela, amid a wave of arrests of members of her inner circle. Gonzalez Urrutia went into exile in Spain on September 8.

Previous winners include the 2023 laureate, the Turkish philanthropist and civil society activist Osman Kavala, who remains in prison after his arrest in November 2017, and 2022 winner the Russian activist Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Kara-Murza was present for the ceremony in Strasbourg following his release earlier this year after over two years behind bars in Russia.

Caracas:

Venezuela’s former presidential opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has left for Spain in the wake of the South American country’s contested election, Venezuelan and Spanish officials said on Saturday night after a day of rising diplomatic tensions.

Gonzalez, 75, who ran against President Nicolas Maduro in July, left after “voluntarily seeking refuge in the Spanish embassy in Caracas several days ago,” Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez posted on Instagram.

“Edmundo Gonzalez has taken off from Caracas heading to Spain on a Spanish Air Force plane,” Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares posted on X, saying Madrid was responding to a request from Gonzalez.

Gonzalez’s exit from Venezuela is the latest political development since the country’s election on July 28. Democracies around the world have criticized the Venezuelan government’s handling of the vote, which election officials and its top court say was won by Maduro.

Venezuela’s opposition say the election resulted in a resounding victory for Gonzalez, and published vote tallies online that they say show he won.

This week prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Gonzalez in connection to the online publication of the tallies, accusing him of usurping functions, falsifying public documents and conspiracy, among other charges.

Earlier on Saturday, Venezuela’s government revoked Brazil’s authorization to represent Argentine interests in the country, including administering the embassy where six opposition figures are sheltering.

Venezuela broke relations with Argentina after the presidential election. Brazil, like Colombia and Mexico, has asked the Venezuelan government to publish the full results of the vote.

The government has not done so and the country’s electoral authority said Maduro won re-election for a third term.

In a statement, Venezuela said the decision, effective immediately, was due to proof that the embassy was being used to plan assassination attempts against Maduro and Rodriguez.

Brazil said it had received the communication that its authorization had been revoked “with surprise.” Argentina said it rejected the “unilateral” decision. Both countries urged Maduro to respect the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

“Any attempt to invade or kidnap asylum seekers who remain in our official residence will be harshly condemned by the international community,” Argentina said in a statement. “Actions like these reinforce the conviction that in Maduro’s Venezuela, fundamental human rights are not respected.”

A Brazilian diplomatic source said on Saturday afternoon that Venezuela had assured Brazil it would not invade the embassy.

In its statement, Brazil insisted it would remain in custody and defense of Argentine interests until Argentina indicated another state acceptable to Venezuela to do so.

“The Brazilian government highlights in this context, under the terms of the Vienna Conventions, the inviolability of the facilities of the Argentine diplomatic mission,” it said, adding that it housed six Venezuelan asylum seekers, assets and archives.

The escalation in the spat between the South American countries was first reported by Reuters.

In March, six people sought asylum in the Argentine embassy in Caracas after a prosecutor ordered their arrest on charges including conspiracy. Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has denied the allegations against her collaborators.

On Friday night, some opposition members in the Argentine residence reported on their X accounts that the building was under surveillance and had no electricity. They posted videos showing men dressed in black and patrols from the government intelligence agency, SEBIN.

Argentina’s Foreign Ministry asked the International Criminal Court on Friday to issue an arrest warrant against Maduro and other senior government officials for events that occurred after the elections.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Venezuelan nationals protest against the results of their country’s presidential election, in Quito, Ecuador, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024
| Photo Credit: AP

On July 28, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro returned to power after a controversial election, whose results have been disputed by the Opposition and several countries. The unpopularity of Mr. Maduro’s regime is not under question as he oversaw an economy that descended into a free fall in his 11 years in power. The country’s annual inflation rate skyrocketed to five digits, along with shortages of basic supplies. It slid down the democracy index and touched new highs on bribery indices. Humanitarian and economic conditions have triggered a mass exodus, with as many as 7.7 million Venezuelans fleeing the country.

Chart 1 shows how Venezuela’s GDP (in current prices) started declining since Mr. Maduro’s ascent to power in 2013. According to the IMF, Venezuela’s real GDP saw the most protracted contraction in modern history during the last decade. Between 2013 and 2021, the economy contracted by 75%, the largest for any country not at war. 

Chart appears incomplete? Click to remove AMP mode

Chart 2 plots Venezuela’s annual inflation rate. The country’s inflation spiralled to a peak of 65,374% resulting in hyperinflation in 2018 and remained in more than three digits for nine years.

Chart 3 shows how Venezuela fares on two indices maintained by the V-dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute — the liberal democracy index and the executive corruption index.

Since 1999 — which heralded the era of Chavismo with Mr. Maduro’s predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, coming to power — the country dropped on the liberal democracy index and underwent a rise on the corruption index. As of 2023, V-dem classifies the country as an electoral autocracy. Mr. Chavez’s rise coincided with a popular movement against the entrenched two-party system which was seen as failing to empower the masses. His regime sought to redistribute revenues from its flourishing petroleum extraction industry into welfare and this ensured that the country’s dependence on this industry became even more entrenched.

Venezuela sits on the world’s largest crude reserves. As Chart 4 shows, Venezuela’s petroleum exports formed about 80% of the country’s exports and remained in the range, 70% to 96%, between 1960 and 2023, making the country a “petrostate”. Petroleum exports also amount to 14% of the country’s GDP (as of 2023) and until 2019 remained over and above the 20% mark.

Chart 4 shows Venezuela’s petrol exports as a share of total exports and GDP (in %).

However, the production of crude oil has reduced significantly over time. Compared to 1973, when the country was producing 3.36 million barrels a day, the figure slipped to 0.78 million in 2023 (Chart 5). The number of active oil rigs in the country fell from 221 in 2014 to just three in 2023. Venezuela was the highest producer of crude among OPEC countries until 1969. But as of 2023, it ranks 9th in crude production. The drastic production cuts are directly linked to the sanctions imposed by the Donald Trump-led U.S. regime in 2017, a time when oil prices recovered globally.

Chart 5 shows Venezuela’s crude production (in 1,000 barrels a day), and active oil rigs against the nominal price of oil over time.

For many years, the trend of Venezuela’s exports and imports of goods and services followed that of oil prices (Chart 6). However, the current spike in oil prices has not seen a commensurate rise in exports and imports due to the imposition of sanctions by the U.S. Since 2023, following the Barbados agreement, the U.S. eased some of its sanctions and this allowed an increase in exports. However, the subsequent measures by the Mr. Maduro regime to ban Opposition candidates resulted in a re-imposition of sanctions.

Chart 6 shows Venezuela’s exports ($ million) and imports ($ million) against the oil prices ($/bb)

Source: OPEC, IMF, V-Dem

Also read: Nicolas Maduro | Chavism’s designated successor

Venezuela’s flag flutters over the Federal Legislative Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela on August 15, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Venezuela’s CNE electoral council, under fire after declaring a widely rejected election victory for President Nicolas Maduro, on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) described a U.N. report disputing the outcome as “rife with lies.”

The CNE proclaimed Mr. Maduro the winner with 52% of votes cast in a July 28 poll, without providing a detailed breakdown.

Mr. Maduro’s victory has been rejected by the opposition, the United States, European Union and several Latin American countries.

Anti-Maduro protests in Venezuela have claimed 25 lives so far, with dozens injured and more than 2,400 arrested.

A preliminary report published Tuesday by a panel of U.N. elections experts found the CNE “fell short of the basic transparency and integrity measures.”

The CNE hit back Wednesday, saying the U.N. report was “rife with lies and contradictions” and insisting a “cyber-terrorist attack” has prevented it from disclosing a full breakdown of polling-station-level results after what it termed an “impeccable and transparent electoral process.”

The CNE website has been down since election day.

Venezuela’s foreign ministry has also rejected the U.N. report.

Former opposition leader Enrique Marquez, who also once ran against Mr. Maduro and himself served on the CNE, said Wednesday he would request the prosecutor’s office to launch a criminal investigation into his former colleagues on the electoral council.

Mexico insisted the solution to Venezuela’s post-election crisis could be resolved by it alone.

“This is a matter that belongs to Venezuelans, and what we want is for there to be a peaceful solution to disputes, which has always been our foreign policy,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters.

He said he had no immediate plans for renewed contact with his fellow leftist leaders in Brazil and Colombia to discuss the crisis, saying he would await a ruling by Venezuela’s Supreme Justice Tribunal, which Mr. Maduro had asked to certify the election outcome.

‘Coup d’etat’

The opposition says its own tally of polling-station-level results showed Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, a 74-year-old retired diplomat, had won by a wide margin.

Gonzalez Urrutia and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from running by Mr. Maduro-friendly state institutions, are in hiding after the president accused them of seeking to foment a “coup d’etat” and incite “civil war.”

On Wednesday, Gonzalez Urrutia said the report from the UN panel and an earlier one from the U.S.-based Carter Center “confirm the lack of transparency in the announced results and confirm the veracity of” the opposition’s published ballots, “which demonstrate our indisputable victory.”

A day earlier, the South American country’s national assembly started considering a package of laws to tighten regulations on non-governmental organizations — described by the regime as a “facade for the financing of terrorist actions.”

Other measures seek to increase government oversight over social media, accused of promoting “hate,” and to punish “fascism” — a term often used by Mr. Maduro in relation to the opposition and other detractors.

Debate in the single-chamber assembly is due to resume Thursday.

Since coming to power in 2013, Mr. Maduro has overseen an economic collapse that has seen more than seven million Venezuelans flee the country, as GDP plunged 80% in a decade.

Mr. Maduro’s last election in 2018 was also rejected as a sham by dozens of countries.

Demonstrators hold a banner reading “Let’s go with the truth and without violence” as they gather to protest election results that awarded Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro with a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Opponents and supporters of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro planned to rally on Tuesday as protests and clashes spread after a weekend election was awarded to the long-ruling socialist despite opposition claims of a landslide victory.

Renewed instability in the South American oil producing nation brought divided international reaction.

The United States said Mr. Maduro’s re-election had no credibility and was mulling more sanctions, while China and Russia congratulated him.

Protests began after the election board declared on Monday that Mr. Maduro had won a third term with 51% of votes to extend his “Chavista” movement’s quarter-century rule.

The opposition, which considers the election body in the pockets of a dictatorial government, said the 73% of vote tallies to which it has access showed its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had more than twice as many votes as Mr. Maduro.

Many Venezuelans staged “cacerolazos”, a traditional Latin American protest where people bang pots and pans in anger.

Some blocked roads, lit fires and threw petrol bombs at police as protests proliferated, including near the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.

“We are tired of this government, we want a change. We want to be free in Venezuela. We want our families to return here,” said one masked protester, referring to the exodus of about a third of Venezuelans in recent years.

“I will fight for my country’s democracy. They stole the election from us,” said another.

Police with shields and batons in Caracas and the city of Maracay fired tear gas to disperse some protests.

Many demonstrators rode motorbikes and jammed streets or draped themselves in the Venezuelan flag. Some covered their faces with scarves as protection against tear gas.

The government calls them violent agitators.

“We have seen this movie before,” Mr. Maduro said from the presidential palace, pledging that security forces would keep the peace. “We have been following all of the acts of violence promoted by the extreme right.”

The armed forces have long supported him and there were no signs generals were breaking from the government.

In Coro, capital of Falcon state, protesters cheered and danced when they tore down a statue depicting former President Hugo Chavez, Mr. Maduro’s mentor who ruled from 1999-2013.

A local monitoring group, the Venezuelan Conflict Observatory, said it had registered 187 protests in 20 states by 6 p.m. on Monday with “numerous acts of repression and violence” carried out by paramilitary groups and security forces.

Deaths

At least two persons were killed in connection with the vote count or protests, one in the border state of Tachira and another in Maracay.

Mr. Maduro, a 61-year-old former union leader and Foreign Minister, won election after Chavez’s death in 2013 and was re-elected in 2018. The opposition said both votes were rigged.

He has presided over an economic collapse, mass migration, and deteriorating relations with the West including U.S. and EU sanctions that have crippled an already struggling oil industry.

His Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino warned against allowing a repeat of the “terrible situations of 2014, 2017 and 2019” when waves of anti-government protests led to hundreds of deaths and failed to dislodge Maduro.

Independent pollsters called Mr. Maduro’s victory implausible, while governments in Washington and around Latin America questioned the results and urged a full tabulation of votes.

“Not even (Maduro) believes the electoral scam he is celebrating,” said Argentina’s President Javier Milei.

Peru ordered Venezuelan diplomats to leave within 72 hours, citing “serious and arbitrary decisions made today by the Venezuelan regime.”

But in a familiar global division, allies including Russia, China and leftist-led Latin American nations backed Maduro.

“China will, as always, firmly support Venezuela’s efforts to safeguard national sovereignty, national dignity and social stability, and firmly support Venezuela’s just cause of opposing external interference,” President Xi Jinping said in a message of congratulation.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from running in the poll but has spearheaded the campaign for Gonzalez, called for marches on Tuesday.

“My dear Venezuelans, tomorrow we meet; as a family, organized, demonstrating the determination we have to make every vote count and defend the truth,” she said.

The government is also planning pro-Maduro rallies, with many Venezuelans fearing another bout of violence and bloodshed similar to others in its turbulent recent history.

CARACAS:

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory in the country’s presidential election in the early hours of Monday morning, even as the country’s opposition said its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez was the victor and it had the polling to prove it.

WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE COUNT?

The country’s electoral authority (CNE) said just after midnight on Monday that Maduro had won a third six-year term with 51% of the vote.

The authority said Gonzalez won 44%, but opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said opposition candidate Gonzalez had secured 70% of the vote and that multiple independent exit polls and quick counts decisively showed his victory.

Gonzalez said he was not calling for supporters to take to the streets or commit any acts of violence and Machado said the opposition has copies of about 40% of voting records.

Edison Research, known for its polling of U.S. elections, had predicted in an exit poll that Gonzalez would win 65% of the vote, while Maduro would win 31%.

Local firm Meganalisis predicted a 65% vote for Gonzalez and just under 14% for Maduro.

WAS VOTING PEACEFUL?

The government said that except for some isolated minor incidents, voting was peaceful.

Motorcycle-riding ruling party supporters known as ‘collectives’ clashed briefly in the evening with opposition supporters outside the country’s largest polling place, a school in central Caracas.

Armed collectives were reported in at least six other locations, according to a local NGO, which also reported the gun death of one man in the border state of Tachira during a confrontation with collective members.

The tense campaign was marked by arrests of opposition figures and other moves by the authorities that the opposition said were meant to prevent a fair election.

Maduro, a former bus driver who was the hand-picked successor of his mentor Hugo Chavez, has been in power since Chavez’s death in 2013.

His government has presided over a sharp economic and social deterioration. The U.S. reimposed oil sanctions in April, accusing Maduro of reneging on deals reached with the opposition to ensure free elections.

WHO IS GONZALEZ?

A long-time but low-profile member of the opposition, Gonzalez, 74, a former diplomat, is known for his calm demeanor.

He was originally registered as a placeholder in March, after neither primary winner Machado nor her alternate were able to register. In April, he was named as the opposition’s definitive candidate.

Machado, 56, has thrown herself into campaigning for Gonzalez.

The two – speaking to large crowds around the country – have employed emotional rhetoric, including about their hope for the many who have emigrated from Venezuela in recent years to return home.

WHAT WAS THE INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE?

The United States has serious concerns that the results announced by the electoral authority do not reflect the votes of the people, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday, asking that a detailed tabulation of votes be published.

Meanwhile, reactions from Latin American leaders were mixed.

Argentine President Javier Milei called the official result fraud, while Costa Rica and Peru rejected it and Chile said it would not accept any result that was not verifiable.

Cuba, Honduras and Bolivia cheered Maduro’s victory.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Caracas, Venezuela:

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro won reelection with 51.2 per cent of votes cast Sunday, the electoral council announced, after a campaign tainted by claims of opposition intimidation and fears of fraud.

Elvis Amoroso, president of the CNE electoral body, in its majority loyal to the government, told reporters that 44.2 per cent of votes had gone to opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia who had been leading in polls.

Maduro, 61, won a third six-year term at the helm of the once wealthy petro-state where GDP dropped by 80 per cent in a decade, pushing more than seven million of its 30 million citizens to emigrate.

In office since 2013, he is accused of locking up critics and harassing the opposition in a climate of rising authoritarianism.

Independent polls had suggested Sunday’s vote could bring an end to 25 years of “Chavismo,” the populist movement founded by Maduro’s socialist predecessor and mentor, the late Hugo Chavez.

Gonzalez Urrutia replaced popular opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on the ticket after authorities loyal to Maduro excluded her from the race.

Machado, who campaigned far and wide for her proxy, urged voters late Sunday to keep “vigil” at their polling stations in the “decisive hours” of counting amid widespread fears of fraud.

Maduro counts on a loyal electoral apparatus, military leadership and state institutions in a system of well-established political patronage.

Sunday’s election was the product of a mediated deal reached last year between the government and the opposition.

The agreement led the United States to temporarily ease sanctions imposed after Maduro’s 2018 reelection, which was rejected as a sham by dozens of Western and Latin American countries.

But the sanctions were snapped back after Maduro reneged on the agreed condition

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Venezuelans voted on July 28 between continuity in President Nicolas Maduro or change in rival Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia amid high tension following the incumbent’s threat of a “bloodbath” if he loses.

Polls suggest the vote poses the biggest threat yet to 25 years of “Chavismo,” the populist movement founded by Mr. Maduro’s predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chavez.

But analysts say Mr. Maduro is unlikely to concede defeat, especially in the absence of immunity guarantees, with his government under investigation for human rights abuses by the International Criminal Court.

Long queues of voters formed at several ballot stations hours before polls opened at 6:00 a.m. (1530 IST) on July 28. Polls close at 6:00 p.m.

“I have been here since 4:30 in the morning, and I hope it will be a successful day,” lawyer Griselda Barroso, 54, told AFP in Caracas.

“I hope there is democracy.”

Mr. Maduro, 61, is seeking a third six-year term at the helm of the once wealthy petro-state that saw GDP drop 80% in a decade, pushing more than seven million of its 30 million citizens to emigrate.

He is accused of locking up critics and harassing the opposition in a climate of rising authoritarianism.

In a message published on social media overnight, Mr. Maduro urged Venezuelans to “Vote, vote, vote, and peace will triumph.”

After casting his vote in the capital on July 28, he vowed to “make sure” the results were respected.

His contender, Gonzalez Urrutia, a 74-year-old former diplomat, called on his compatriots to turn out in large numbers “to transform your future” in what “will undoubtedly be the most important democratic expression of the people in recent years.”

“We hope and wish that everything will transpire in peace,” he said in a video posted on social media.

Mr. Maduro lags far behind Gonzalez Urrutia in voter intention, according to independent polls, but counts on a loyal electoral machinery, military leadership and state institutions in a system of well-established political patronage.

Relying on its own figures, the government is also said to be certain of victory.

With several international election observers blocked from entering the South American country at the last minute, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for all parties to “respect the democratic process.”

“The Venezuelan people deserve an election that genuinely reflects their will, free from any manipulation. The international community is going to be watching this very closely,” Mr. Blinken told reporters in Japan.

‘Peace or war’

Days before the vote, Mr. Maduro said the outcome would decide whether Venezuela enters a period of “peace or war.”

“If they do not want Venezuela to become a bloodbath, a fratricidal civil war produced by the fascists, let us guarantee the greatest success, the greatest electoral victory of our people,” he said at a rally.

The comments drew condemnation from leaders including Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who said: “Maduro has to learn: if you win, you stay. If you lose, you go.”

Concerns were further stoked when Caracas blocked the international observers, including four ex-Presidents who had their plane held up in Panama on July 26.

‘World is watching’

Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, spoke to Machado on July 27, writing on X afterward: “We are on the side of democracy. The world is watching these elections.”

On July 26, a Venezuelan NGO said the government was holding 305 “political prisoners” and had arrested 135 people with links to the opposition campaign since January.

Caracas accuses the opposition of conspiring against Mr. Maduro, whose 2018 reelection was rejected as illegitimate by most Western and Latin American countries.

Years of tough U.S. sanctions failed to dislodge the President, who enjoys support from Cuba, Russia and China.

Venezuelans are clamouring for change.

Most live on just a few dollars a month, with the health care and education systems in disrepair and biting shortages of electricity and fuel.

The government blames sanctions, but observers point the finger at corruption and mismanagement.

About 21 million Venezuelans are registered to vote.

The government has deployed tens of thousands of security forces and enforced ramped-up border control and a prohibition on public gatherings and protests.

“While the election in Venezuela will hardly be free or fair, Venezuelans have their best chance in over a decade to elect their government,” Human Rights Watch Americas director Juanita Goebertus said this week, urging the international community to “have their (voters’) back.”

The United States will ease some oil and gas sanctions against Venezuela after the South American country’s government and opposition agreed to hold elections next year.

In response to those “democratic developments,” the U.S. Treasury Department “has issued General Licenses authorizing transactions involving Venezuela’s oil and gas sector and gold sector,” and is “removing the ban on secondary trading” in debt securities, a statement from undersecretary for terrorism Brian Nelson said Wednesday.

But it also said that those authorizations could be amended or revoked at any time if the electoral deal falls through.

“Let’s turn the page, let’s rebuild a relationship of respect, of cooperation… this is my message to those in power, and to the government of the United States,” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said, while also calling for a definitive end to the sanctions.

To uphold the agreement, the United States warned Venezuela that it must “define a specific timeline and process for the expedited reinstatement of all candidates” by the end of November, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

“All who want to run for president should be allowed the opportunity,” he said in a statement.

The agreement between Washington and Caracas comes just a day after the Venezuelan government and opposition reached a deal in Barbados — mediated by Norway — to hold elections in late 2024.

But that accord allows for the exclusion of certain candidates under Venezuelan law, which would include opposition frontrunner Maria Corina Machado.

U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity on Wednesday evening, however, said they believed Caracas was planning to eventually allow such candidates to participate.

Blinken said “failure to abide by the terms of this arrangement will lead the United States to reverse steps we have taken.”

Later in the day, five jailed opposition figures were released, according to a social media post by Gerardo Blyde, who represents the opposition in talks with the government.

Among them were journalist Roland Carreno and former lawmaker Juan Requesens, imprisoned in 2018 after an attack on Maduro.

Also on Wednesday, a charter flight from Texas arrived at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas carrying about 130 Venezuelan migrants, the first such deportation flight following an agreement earlier this month between the two countries.

The deal provides for the “orderly, safe and legal repatriation” of undocumented Venezuelan migrants, who until now had been deported in small numbers on commercial flights, mixed in with regular passengers.

In concrete terms, the sanctions easing means the U.S. government is re-authorizing the purchase of Venezuelan oil and gas for a period of six months, which may be renewed “only if Venezuela meets its commitments under the electoral roadmap as well as other commitments with respect to those who are wrongfully detained.”

Regarding the gold sector, no time limit has been specified, with the Treasury Department stating it seeks to reduce black market trading.

Washington is also allowing renewed trading in Venezuelan debt securities on the secondary market, although the ban on the primary market — meaning debt securities newly issued by the Venezuelan government — remains in force.

The easing of sanctions on Venezuelan oil had been eagerly awaited by the markets, leading to a fall in the price per barrel despite the war between Israel and Hamas and the risk of escalation in the Middle East.

An exact election date will be defined by the country’s National Electoral Council, according to the text of the deal.

The two sides had resumed talks seeking to end the country’s political and economic crisis, after a nearly yearlong suspension.

The opposition, backed by several countries including the United States, did not recognize Maduro’s 2018 re-election in a vote widely dismissed as fraudulent.

The following year, Washington ramped up sanctions against Caracas first imposed in 2015 over the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

But the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s war on Ukraine saw renewed global efforts to solve the crisis in Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves.

Last year, U.S. delegates went to Caracas to meet Maduro, even though Washington does not recognize him as a legitimate leader.

After initial talks between the government and the opposition, Washington granted a six-month license to U.S. energy giant Chevron.