On March 6, 2026, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) continued its trend of selectively easing the Venezuela sanctions by (1) issuing General License No. 51 (“GL 51”), the first general license (“GL”) beyond the energy sector, and (2) publishing six new Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) addressing the scope of several of the previously issued energy-related GLs. In parallel, Venezuela has begun reforming its mining sector. Background Since late…
On January 10, 2025, in a multilateral sanctions action, the US, Canada, EU, and UK sanctioned various Venezuelan individuals linked to the Venezuelan government and prominent state-owned entities. US Sanctions The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) designated eight Venezuelan individuals as Specially Designated Nationals pursuant to Executive Order 13692, including the president of the Specially Designated National state-owned petroleum company, Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., (PdVSA), the Venezuelan Ministry of Transportation and…
On January 29, 2024, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls (“OFAC”) revoked General License 43 (“GL 43”), which authorized certain transactions involving CVG Compania General de Mineria de Venezuela CA (“Minerven”). GL 43 was replaced with GL 43A to allow US Persons, through 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time, February 13, 2024, to wind down transactions involving Minerven (and entities it owns 50% or more) that were previously authorized by GL…
Please check out Episode 9 of the Compliance Podcast of the Caracas office in which Jesus Davila talks to Washington DC partner, Alex Lamy, concerning the US sanctions system over the Venezuelan government and the latest decision regarding the suspension of the sanctions for the hydrocarbons and mining sectors. Alex explains the implications thereof and how this could bring new opportunities for the aforementioned sectors. A link to the podcast series is available here. Links…