Deportation flights from the United States to Venezuela are set to resume following a new bilateral agreement, ending a brief diplomatic standoff that emerged earlier this month when Venezuela suspended the flights in response to U.S. sanctions.
President Nicolás Maduro had halted the repatriation of Venezuelan nationals after the U.S. Treasury Department announced plans to let Chevron’s oil license in Venezuela expire on April 3. The Biden administration had been allowing the oil giant to send millions of dollars to the country, wrote Fortune.
“The Biden administration secretly permitted Chevron Corp. to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the Venezuelan government despite a license that explicitly prohibited such disbursements, according to people familiar with the matter.
The supplement to a November 2022 sanctions waiver allowed Chevron to remain in compliance with US law while paying the regime of President Nicolás Maduro taxes and oil royalties, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing non-public information. The initial waiver from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control granted Chevron permission to conduct limited operations in the Latin American nation.”
Trump’s decision escalated tensions between the two nations, prompting Maduro to demand a policy reversal, explained The Washington Examiner. However, recent developments suggest that former President Donald Trump is now considering extending Chevron’s license, even as his administration contemplates new sanctions targeting countries that purchase Venezuelan oil.
While the specifics of the renewed deportation agreement remain undisclosed, both President Maduro and Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez confirmed that flights would resume immediately. In a televised address on Saturday, Maduro described the move as a humanitarian success.
“Thanks to our government’s determination, we are restarting flights to rescue and liberate migrants from U.S. prisons,” Maduro declared.
Rodríguez, who also serves as Maduro’s chief negotiator with Washington, announced that the first deportation flight would land in Venezuela on Sunday.
The announcement follows a contentious deportation operation by the Trump administration, which recently returned two planes full of migrants—allegedly including members of the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs—to El Salvador. Though Maduro criticized the U.S. over the incident, he directed his strongest condemnation at Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, accusing him of failing to protect Venezuelan citizens and calling for their immediate return.
“To President Bukele, we say: you are responsible,” Maduro stated. “You must ensure their safety and eventually return them to Venezuela.”
Rodríguez echoed Maduro’s stance, denouncing the deportation of suspected gang members and affirming Venezuela’s commitment to reintegrating its nationals. “Migration is not a crime,” he emphasized, pledging to repatriate “our kidnapped brothers in El Salvador.”
The United States had deported violent gang members to El Salvador earlier in the month.
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