Washington DC, March 28: The United States Department of the Treasury on Saturday announced that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued new general licenses authorizing certain activities involving minerals of Venezuelan origin, a move officials say is aimed at helping revitalise Venezuela’s economy under the current regulatory framework.
According to an official post on X by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the licences permit specified services and investment activities related to Venezuelan-origin critical minerals that would otherwise be prohibited under existing sanctions. The department said this step is part of broader efforts “to bring the Venezuelan economy back online and reorient investment to benefit Americans and Venezuelans.”
The licences extend authorisations for the supply of equipment and services necessary for mineral operations and allow negotiation and entry into contingent contracts for investments in Venezuela’s mineral sector, subject to regulatory conditions. This action follows a series of recent general licences issued by OFAC easing certain Venezuela-related sanctions, including measures earlier this year aimed at supporting energy and mining sectors.
In a related development, former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro appeared again in a New York federal courtroom on Friday as he seeks to have his drug-trafficking indictment dismissed. Maduro, who was captured by U.S. forces in a controversial operation in Caracas on January 3, remains jailed in Brooklyn along with his wife, Cilia Flores, and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The primary focus of Friday’s proceedings was a legal challenge over whether American sanctions that block the use of Venezuelan government funds can lawfully prevent Maduro from paying for his own legal defence. His attorneys argue that the restrictions violate his constitutional right to counsel of choice, while U.S. prosecutors maintain that sanctions enforcement and national security considerations justify the limitations. Judge Alvin Hellerstein has not set a trial date and denied motions to dismiss the case on these grounds.
The case has drawn divided public reactions, with demonstrations in both New York and Venezuela. Back in Caracas, Maduro still retains a faction of popular support, even as the government led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez continues to manage state affairs in his absence.
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