US broadly eases Venezuela oil sanctions after election deal

The Biden administration on Wednesday broadly eased sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector in response to a deal reached between the government and opposition parties for the 2024 election - the most extensive rollback of Trump-era restrictions on Caracas.

A new general license issued by the U.S. Treasury Department authorized OPEC member Venezuela, which had been under crushing sanctions since 2019, to produce and export oil to its chosen markets for the next six months without limitation.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed President Nicolas Maduro's electoral concessions but said Washington has given him until the end of November to begin lifting bans on opposition presidential candidates and start releasing political prisoners and "wrongfully detained" Americans.

The U.S. moves follow months of negotiations in which Washington had pressed Caracas for concrete actions toward democratic elections in return for lifting some - but not all - of the tough sanctions imposed under former U.S. President Donald Trump.

It also represents a significant step in the increased engagement of President Joe Biden's administration with Maduro on issues ranging from energy to migration, a shift from Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign against the socialist government.