Venezuela’s turn toward the authoritarian axis. Maduro neglected his obligations to the US and the opposition and provoked the return of sanctions pressure

From its first months in office, the Biden administration has pursued a strategy of softening its stance on Venezuela, seeking to bring the country out of isolation and put it on a democratic path through US-brokered deals with the opposition.

This approach was chosen to prevent Venezuela from slipping into a spiral of autocracy. The biggest such signal for Caracas was easing the sanctions regime against the country’s oil industry by introducing General License 44 on October 18, 2023, which eased the sanctions regime in the oil industry with Venezuela.

Maduro’s actions in not complying with the agreement with the opposition concluded at the summit in Barbados on October 17, 2023 (representatives of Venezuelan President Maduro and opposition leaders signed a roadmap to commit to competitive and inclusive elections in 2024 in exchange for partial easing of US sanctions and the release of US prisoners) and aggression against Guyana indicate that the Venezuelan leadership has chosen to move closer to the autocratic axis.