
After a confusing and loosening in recent weeks, the license granted by the US government to the Chevron oil company to produce in Venezuela expired at midnight from Tuesday to Wednesday. It was the only permission of an American company to operate in the Andean country. “We are denying Venezuela any type of funds that can lead to the oppression of the Venezuelan people,” says the deputy spokeswoman for the State Department, Mignon Houston, to explain the reasons for the administration of Donald Trump for the withdrawal of the permit.
The US President had announced in February the revocation of the license to Chevron, which his predecessor, the Democrat Joe Biden, had authorized two and a half years before, in November 2022, as a gesture to reward the dialogue initiated then between the government of Nicolás Maduro and the opposition and that Washington hoped that he would lead to the celebration of clean elections on July 28.
The permission to the oil company authorized him to “resume operations for extraction of limited natural resources in Venezuela.” In March, the Department of the Treasury approved that Chevron was extinguishing its operations but extended the deadline, initially scheduled for April 3, to May 27 so that the oil company could fulfill the previously acquired commitments ..
For months, the oil company had pressed to Donald Trump’s government to keep his license. As part of the negotiations to continue the production two more months, Venezuela released an American citizen ten days ago who kept prisoner, the veteran of the Joseph St Clair Air Force, delivered in Antigua to the envoy of US President Richard Grenell.
Chevron’s movements did not persuade the Secretary of State and National Security Counselor, Marco Rubio, a firm supporter of hard sanctions against Caracas. The head of American diplomacy believes that the income that Chevron’s operations generated in the Venezuelan coffers only manage to underpin the Maduro regime, and last week he insisted again, in an audience in the Senate, in which there would be no other extension for the oil company, which supplied up to 20% of Venezuelan production.
“From the beginning of this administration we have frequently expressed to denounce this regime, to denounce its oppression of its people. We have ended the Chevron license that allowed initiatives in the gas and oil sector that continue license. “We need to see a Venezuela on the way to democratic stability and progress,” added Rubio’s deputy spokeswoman.
The State Department has issued a new travel alert over Venezuela, in which it places the country at the most dangerous level, 4, and recommends its citizens not to visit the Andean country “under any circumstance” due to the risk of being arrested or kidnapped: it is the country of the world that most American retains in its prisons, according to Washington. The figure reaches dozens since 2019, says Houston.
“No trip deserves to risk your freedom,” says the spokeswoman, who recalls that today the United States does not have an operational embassy on Venezuelan soil or can offer consular emergency services. “American citizens who consider traveling there put their lives and their freedoms at risk. And it is not only to travel to Venezuela herself, but also to the border.”
The spokeswoman, and the State Department, warn that in many cases the Americans who travel to the Andean country do so to visit family or in the company of relatives of that nationality. “The relatives of American nationals are often also arrested with the US traveler. Visiting Venezuela also endangers other people,” says the travel alert. “Dual citizenship, a Venezuelan visa or a previous trip to Venezuela, a work in that country does not protect US travelers. Any American is in danger of being arrested by Maduro’s regime,” says the alert.
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https://elpais.com/america/2025-05-30/ee-uu-defiende-la-cancelacion-de-la-licencia-a-chevron-para-operar-en-venezuela.html