US lifts sanctions on Venezuela’s top legislator

Jorge Rodriguez has been removed from OFAC’s sanctions list in latest US push for oil control and bilateral diplomacy. Save Share The United States Department of the Treasury has lifted sanctions on the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, brother of the country’s interim President, Delcy Rodriguez. The move by US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) comes amidmajorUS-Venezuela energy pacts and othertalkswith the Latin American country’s government. The delisting notice was posted on the federal agency’s website on Wednesday, officially removing Jorge Rodriguez’s name from OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) blacklist. The top lawmaker in the country, Jorge Rodriguez has held the position of National Assembly president since 2021. He was reappointed in January, weeks after theabductionof former President Nicolas Maduro by the US government. He served as vice president under Venezuela’s late President Hugo Chavez, among other posts. Jorge and Delcy Rodriguez had been sanctioned under US President Donald Trump’s first administration due to their ministerial roles under Maduro, who now faces several federal charges, including asweeping superseding indictmentadding torture to his other alleged crimes. In 2018, the State Department said that Jorge Rodriguez was given prominent government positions by Maduro “to help him maintain power and solidify his authoritarian rule”. A source familiar with the matter told Al Jazeera that the decision to lift sanctions on Jorge Rodriguez is part of Washington’s wider diplomatic recognition of the interim Venezuelan government, and Trump’sthree-phase planfor Venezuela’s stabilisation and political transition. During a press briefing at the US State Department on Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the next round of negotiations on Venezuela’s future was scheduled to begin on Wednesday. He also urged all Venezuelan opposition factions to join US-backed political talks with the interim president. Earlier this year, the US Treasurydroppedsanctions against Delcy Rodriguez and later lifted the restrictions on Venezuela’s central bank and its state-owned national airline, signalling Washington’s pivot fromeconomic warfareto backroombargaining. She has largely complied with Trump’s demands for Caracas to open up its energy industry to American companies....