The license that allows the international sale of gas and oil from Caracas expires on April 18. Unless Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro takes immediate steps to ensure free and fair elections this year, the U.S.
will reimpose sanctions on the South American country's energy sector. Washington has little hope that there will be a last-minute turnaround in the Venezuelan position. In any case, a return to the “maximum pressure” policy applied during the mandate of Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021), which unleashed a wave of asylum applications from Venezuelans on the southern US border, is not desired. The condition for extending the license was that Caracas allowed all non-Chavista candidates to run. The main opposition leader, María Corina Machado, was disqualified by the electoral authorities, without international protests having changed the situation. The first option to replace her, Corina Yoris, is also not allowed to run for president. Faced with repeated blockades, the Unitary Platform that brings together the main opposition parties has ended up presenting Edmundo González Urrutia on an interim basis.