Venezuela’s Socialists, Angry About New Sanctions, Are Weaponizing the Migrant Crisis Against Biden
A month into Venezuela restarting repatriation flights to help the U.S. curb illegal immigration, its vice president is already threatening to stop them.
One month after restarting migrant repatriation flights in an agreement to help curb illegal immigration in the United States, Venezuela is threatening to stop them, further complicating Biden’s effort to regain control over the border.
The flights began in December after record numbers of Venezuelans fleeing the collapse of their country’s economy began crossing the American border. Mexico and other Latin American countries agreed during a summit in October to reinitiate the flights.
Now, just weeks later, Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, is threatening to stop the flights, citing the “rude and improper blackmail and ultimatum expressed by the U.S. government.”
Ms. Rodríguez’s statement on X was in response to a post by the American State Department’s spokesman, Matthew Miller, who announced that the United States has “revoked sanctions relief for Venezuela’s gold sector” due to “anti democratic actions” by representatives of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
The threat to reimpose sanctions came days after Venezuela’s highest court upheld a ban on an opposition leader, María Corina Machado, the AP reported, who won the primary for an American-backed opposition group.
America is considering additional actions against Mr. Maduro’s government if it fails to uphold and support democratic elections, and the Treasury Department gave companies until February 13 to pull back on business with Venezuela’s state-owned mining company, Minerven, according to the Associated Press. The Treasury Department suspended some sanctions against the mining company in October after Mr. Maduro’s administration agreed to an electoral roadmap.
At the time, the Treasury made it clear it could “amend or revoke” the authorizations at any time if Mr. Maduro’s government failed to follow through on their election promises.
“If they take the wrong step of intensifying economic aggression against Venezuela, at the request of the extremist lackeys in the country, as of February 13, repatriation flights for Venezuelan migrants would be immediately revoked,” Ms. Rodríguez wrote. “Venezuela, inspired by its glory and historical dignity, will continue its efforts to recover the Venezuelan economy with its own efforts in national unity!”
