The new Venezuelan opposition representative to the United States urges the Biden administration to relax crippling oil sanctions against Nicolas Maduro’s government or risk turning the socialist-led country into another Cuba with Washington as a scapegoat for rising authoritarianism and economic hardship.
Fernando Blasi’s comments represent a sharp break from the opposition’s “maximum pressure campaign” of the past four years, when it relied on the US to remove Maduro from power.
The failure of that hardline approach led the opposition in January to remove beleaguered former lawmaker Juan Guaidó from his role as “interim president”, a title he claimed as head of the 2015-elected National Assembly – widely regarded as the last democratic vote in Venezuela. The opposition has replaced that arrangement with a more horizontal leadership style of mostly exiled politicians.
“If we continue on this path, Venezuela is destined to become another Cuba,” Blasi said. “It will be a problem for politicians in Florida to win elections… That would be an extremely sad fate for a country.”
Blasi, 51, discussed the future of US sanctions during recent meetings with mostly Democratic members of Congress, including Gregory Meeks, the senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Although he was appointed envoy to the US National Assembly in January, he cautioned that he does not speak on behalf of the opposition’s Unity Platform as a whole. He acknowledged that many of his allies in the opposition coalition are excited about the idea of rewarding Maduro without prior commitments to level the playing field ahead of next year’s presidential election.
The Biden administration has indicated its willingness to ease sanctions in exchange for concrete steps from Maduro, such as a pledge not to exclude any candidate from opposition primaries later this year.
But aside from licensing US multinational Chevron so it could resume limited oil production in Venezuela on a six-month trial basis, it has largely maintained a set of punitive sanctions inherited from the Trump administration, forcing the regime to turning into the OPEC nation became one of the top foreign policy priorities.
‘Time is running out’
Blasi said the pace of sanctions relief is too slow. Negotiations in Mexico, where the government and opposition are supposed to set the terms for next year’s elections, have not taken place for months, although informal talks have continued in Caracas.
He said any easing of sanctions would provide much-needed relief to mainstream Venezuelans weighed down by high inflation and deficits. If Maduro fails to fulfill his commitments, concessions could be quickly reversed, he said.
“Time is running out,” Blasi said. “We need to start now with a cohesive plan where we give and the government reciprocates… to try and generate the best possible scenario for 2024.”
The Biden administration said that with the license to Chevron, it had shown willingness to ease targeted, time-limited sanctions.
The State Department said in an email “It is United States policy to tailor sanctions based on humanitarian needs and positive Democratic outcomes and always in close cooperation with the Unity Platform.”
Dinorah Figuera, who replaced Guaidó as the face of the 2015 National Assembly, distanced herself from her envoy’s comments, saying they do not represent the opposition as a whole.
“Pluralism is a value and consensus a necessity to move forward,” she said on Twitter.
Unlike many exiled opposition activists who fled possible arrest in Venezuela after anti-government protests, Blasi left his homeland before Maduro came to power in 2013. He settled in Miami, where he founded a real estate finance company.
He owes his newfound prominence to his ties to the New Era party, a political movement centered around his hometown of Maracaibo, the oil hub in western Venezuela controlled by Manuel Rosales, who has also sided with Maduro in recent days. call for an end to sanctions. New Era is one of four political parties that dominate the anti-Maduro coalition.
When Guaido was recognized in the US as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, Blasi was accredited as Venezuela’s economic adviser at the US embassy.
Reflecting the opposition’s new level-headed approach, Blasi said he will not seek the title of Venezuela’s ambassador to Washington, as he has for the past four years. The budget for diplomatic missions approved last month by opposition lawmakers elected to the National Assembly in 2015 was $646,800 — compared to an average of $5.8 million over the past three years.
But to operate legally in the US, Blasi and a small team run for diplomatic cover. They will also need some sort of official recognition to access the $144 million that Venezuela’s central bank has parked at the US Federal Reserve and which the opposition relies on to fund the so-called Freedom Fund to accelerate a political transition .
As part of his outreach in the US, Blasi wants to improve relations with Democrats and ensure the opposition continues to support two parties. He said the Trump administration’s unique embrace of Venezuelans for freedom has led many in the opposition to rally behind hardline Republican Florida politicians and sideline Democrats’ positions.
“I don’t want to do what happened in the past and sympathize with one political party to boycott the efforts of the other,” he said.