WASHINGTON — The exchange commercial in between Venezuela and the United States climbed to $6 billion in 2023, more than double that of 2022, according to a private report released this Monday, although it is far from its best times.
The commercial exchange occurs after President Joe Biden’s decision to relax sanctions on the Nicolás Maduro regime, in an attempt to achieve free elections in Venezuela.
According to the private Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VenAmCham), “there was a commercial exchange of 6,092 million dollars” between Venezuela and the United States last year, “a growth of 127.35% (USD 3,414 million) compared to the accumulated figure for 2022 (2,680 million)”.
This increase occurred in a context of easing the sanctions imposed by Washington on the oil, gas and gold of the oil-producing country, the business body said.
Maduro’s failure to comply
The White House, however, has warned that it could reverse the licenses starting in April due to questions about the elections set for July 28, in which Nicolás Maduro is expected to seek re-election for a third six-year term.
He National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela, related to the Maduro regime, announced on Monday the decision to disqualify the opposition presidential candidate, Maria Corina Machadoto hold public office, which excludes her from participating in the presidential elections scheduled for July 28.
The Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said in January in a hearing before the Senate, he warned that he will take action if the Chavista dictatorship does not comply with the agreement ahead of next year’s presidential elections.
“If the regime has violated the agreement reached, of course we will take the necessary measures. We have been very clear about this. They will not have free rein to carry out actions that contradict the commitments they have made to move towards free and fair elections, which is a shared objective that we have with the opposition,” Blinken said.
When questioned on that occasion about the lifting of sanctions and the low probability of compliance by the regime, Blinken said that “After the agreement that the Unitary Platform, the opposition, reached with the regime on a path to the elections, we wanted to support it and Part of that support was to encourage that to move forward, including lifting some sanctions with the ability, of course, to reimpose them or put in place some licenses that can be revoked very quickly.”
A commercial increase of 770%
Bilateral trade reached around $38 billion in 2008, according to VenAmCham, when the United States was the best customer for Venezuelan crude oil. But political tensions and sanctions brought the figure to just $1.955 billion in 2021.
The VenAmCham report, based on statistics from the United States Census Bureau, indicates that Venezuelan exports to that country “reached USD 3,594 million” in 2023, “an increase of 770% (USD 3,180 million), compared to with the accumulated of 2022 (USD 414 million)”.
Oil exports accounted for 90.85% of the total, he emphasizes.
Imports to Venezuela from the United States were for 2,499 million dollars, “growing by 10.28% (USD 233 million) compared to total imports for 2022 (USD 2,266 million).” Oil imports accounted for 19.12% of the total.
The eventual reactivation of sanctions responds to a decision by the supreme court that maintains a political disqualification for 15 years against former representative María Corina Machado, who won the internal elections of the main opposition alliance to be the candidate to face Maduro.
Source: With information from AFP
