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The US, the EU and the UK imposed fresh sanctions on top Venezuelan officials on Friday as President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term after claiming a victory the west condemned as fraudulent.
Maduro imposed a tight security clampdown for Friday’s ceremony, closing Venezuela’s land border with Colombia, suspending flights to and from its neighbour and stationing troops and police throughout the capital of his oil-rich nation to prevent protests. The presidents of close allies Cuba and Nicaragua witnessed the swearing-in, while Russia and China sent top parliamentary representatives.
“I say to the people: . . . I will never let you down, I will never betray you,” Maduro roared in a combative inauguration speech inside Venezuela’s National Congress. “I will go forward with the force of a hurricane, the volcanic force of a people who want their homeland, who want peace and a future,” he added.
US President Joe Biden’s administration responded by sanctioning the head of state-owned oil company PDVSA and other officials close to Maduro for enabling the president’s “repression and subversion of democracy”. Meanwhile, the EU and UK both added 15 more top Venezuelan officials to their sanctions lists.
“On this day of Nicolás Maduro’s illegitimate presidential ‘inauguration’, it is important to reaffirm the UK’s unwavering support for the Venezuelan people and their right to democracy, freedom and human dignity,” Baroness Jennifer Chapman, UK minister for Latin America, told the Financial Times. “These measures send a strong message: this regime’s actions will not go unchallenged.
Maduro claimed victory in July’s election but failed to produce evidence to substantiate the result, despite repeated calls from the international community. The opposition, led by María Corina Machado, collected thousands of official voting tallies from polling stations, showing that their candidate Edmundo González had thrashed Maduro by a margin of more than two to one. The independent Carter Center and the Organization of American States said the opposition evidence was credible.
Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, fired a parting shot at the Biden administration in his speech: “We say to the outgoing North American government: ‘We won, they couldn’t defeat us.’”
Washington again stopped short of suspending licences that grant Chevron and other US and European oil companies exemption from US oil sanctions on Venezuela, providing crucial revenues to Maduro’s government.
Instead, the Biden administration raised a reward for information leading to Maduro’s capture from $15mn to $25mn — a largely symbolic move since the smaller reward was in place in 2022 when senior US officials were negotiating with top members of Maduro’s government.
“Perhaps the most significant aspect of this new sanctions package, which has been co-ordinated with US allies, is that it is limited to individuals,” said Phil Gunson, a Venezuela expert with the International Crisis Group.
“The failure thus far of [broader economic] sanctions to produce political change in Venezuela, and their impact on the population, clearly weighed on policymakers.”
US officials said there would be “key actions” against the Venezuelan government in “the coming days”, but the Trump administration takes power in just over a week. Trump has been largely silent on Venezuela since winning the election, but did offer support to the opposition in a post on Thursday, calling its candidate Edmundo González “president-elect”.
The opposition has called for the cancellation of the individual oil licences, describing them as a “lifeline” for Maduro’s government.
Helped by Chevron’s participation, Venezuela pumped 914,000 barrels per day in the first 11 months of 2024, according to figures reported to Opec, an increase of 17 per cent over the same period in 2023.
Many countries boycotted Friday’s reinauguration while neighbouring Brazil and Colombia — both governed by leftists who have attempted to broker negotiations between Maduro and the opposition — sent ambassadors to the ceremony.
Near the presidential palace, screens and stages erected by the government to drum up support failed to attract large audiences.
Lourdes Maldonado, a shopkeeper and opposition supporter, said: “González is fighting from exile, but we know that without the support of the armed forces, it is very difficult to get Maduro out.”
Additional reporting by Ana Rodríguez Brazón in Caracas and Paola Tamma in Brussels
