US offers sanctions relief to Maduro officials

The US has removed the former chief of Venezuela's intelligence service Sebin from its sanctions list and will extend sanctions relief to other officials who break ranks with President Nicolas Maduro, US vice president Mike Pence said today.

Former Sebin chief Manuel Christopher Figuera was the highest ranking security official to back a 30 April aborted uprising National Assembly president Juan Guaido. Figuera was arrested by the Maduro government that day on treason charges but is now believed to be at large.

Figuera was considered a longtime close associate of Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores. His decision to apparently side with Guaido points to widening fractures among the top brass that comprise Maduro's inner circle of military backers.

"We will grant sanctions relief to those who stand up for constitution and support the rule of law in Venezuela," Pence said at a conference hosted by the Council of the Americas and the State Department.

Pence warned that every member of the Venezuelan Supreme Court will be added to the US sanctions list after members of the body today began the legal process for arresting six members of the opposition-controlled National Assembly. And he warned the Maduro government against targeting Guaido, who is regarded by Washington and most countries in Europe and the western hemisphere as Venezuela's interim leader.

"The safety and security of Juan Guaido is a top priority for the US," Pence said.

Today's action "shows the good faith of the US that removal of sanctions may be available for designated persons who take concrete and meaningful actions to restore democratic order," the Treasury Department said.

Figuera was placed on the US sanctions list in February. Treasury at that time cited reports that Figuera oversaw "mass torture, mass human rights violations, and mass persecution against those who want democratic change in Venezuela."

Pence today repeated the administration's often-used threat that a military intervention in Venezuela remains an option. But US military forces have so far limited their role to enabling delivery of humanitarian aid at staging points on Venezuela's borders. The US Navy will deploy its hospital ship, the USS Comfort, in June to provide medical assistance to Venezuelan refugees in neighboring countries, Pence said.

A US pledge to expand sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector has been difficult to implement as Washington at the same time is enforcing a total ban on crude exports from Iran. And the threat to target one of Maduro's main external patrons, Russia, is in doubt after a phone conversation on 3 May between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Trump told reporters afterward that he believed Putin has good intentions toward Venezuela.

"This is not the first time that an administration official says 'all options are on the table,'" Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said ahead of his meeting with secretary of state Mike Pompeo yesterday. "I very much hope that it does not reflect President Trump's intentions. At least he did not voice such intentions during his conversation with President Putin."

Pompeo and Lavrov both described their discussions on Venezuela, on the sidelines of the Arctic Council meeting in Finland, as "positive."

"We want the Cubans out, we want the Iranians out, Russia's military out," Pompeo said after his meeting. "We have had that conversation, and we started to talk about how our interests might be able to find a way forward. I do not know that we will get to the right place, but we will have further conversations."

In a tumultuous session marked by political harassment at the gates of the National Assembly in downtown Caracas today, the opposition-controlled body approved a finance committee recommendation, without debate, to pay $72mn in interest on a bond issued by state-owned oil company PdV and backed by its US refining arm Citgo. But the payment due at the end of May hinges on accessing PdV funds frozen in the US.