US Lifts Sanctions on Venezuela's Jorge Rodríguez
The Facts
- The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control removed on Wednesday Jorge Rodríguez, the head of Venezuela's National Assembly since 2021 and brother of interim President Delcy Rodríguez, from its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List.
- This move generally unblocks assets under U.S. jurisdiction and allows American individuals and companies to conduct transactions with Rodríguez. It's unclear whether other legal restrictions, such as travel bans, remain in effect.
- The notice deleted five variations of the name Jorge Rodríguez, whose full name is Jorge Jesus Rodríguez Gómez, each listed with his birthday of Nov. 9, 1965, and the same identity card number. No explanation for the delisting has been offered.
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The Spin
Anti-Maduro narrative
Leniency for cooperation is nothing unusual in American justice, and Jorge Rodríguez's delisting fits that pattern. While the timing is awkward, since a transition is still far off, this is acceptable if impunity for the Rodríguez circle is the price of recovering Venezuela, its freedom and its democracy. The only goal now is to hold elections and achieve a real transition.
Pro-Maduro narrative
U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan officials were never built on solid ground, just a political prop for an opposition that thrives on blackmail and media spectacle. Delisting Jorge Rodríguez proves the pressure campaign was always hollow, and ordinary Venezuelans paid for the theater. It's not foreign punishment lists but sovereignty that decides the country's future.
