US lifts sanctions on Venezuela’s acting president

The United States has lifted sanctions against Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez, a post on the US Treasury Department’s website said Wednesday.

Rodriguez assumed the office after Washington deposed her predecessor Nicolas Maduro— with US forces conducting a raid on Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, and seizing him on January 3.

What does the lifting of US sanctions mean for Rodriguez?

Rodriguez’s name was removed from the “Specially Designated Nationals List,” according to an entry by the Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The move enables Rodriguez to work with US companies and investors more freely.

She welcomed the decision in a statement posted on X, calling it a “significant step in the right direction to normalize and strengthen relations” between the US and Venezuela.

“We trust that this ‌progress will allow for the lifting of the sanctions currently in place on our ‌country, ​enabling the building and guaranteeing of an effective bilateral cooperation agenda for the benefit of our peoples,” she said.