US lifts sanctions on Venezuela s interim president

Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez attends a meeting with Colombia's Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez and Colombia's Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio after a planned meeting between Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Rodriguez was postponed, at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, March 13, 2026. (REUTERS/Gaby Oraa)


WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday removed sanctions against Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez, according to the U.S. Treasury Department website, less than three months after U.S. forces seized the country's then-President Nicolas Maduro in a raid on the capital.

President Donald Trump's administration has engaged with the interim government led by former Maduro ally Rodriguez, including on an agreement for the U.S. ​to sell Venezuelan oil, and has issued sanctions waivers to encourage U.S. investment.

U.S. forces captured Maduro on January 3 after months of heightened tensions between the two countries, setting off a chain of changes in Venezuela. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are on trial in New York ​on drug trafficking charges.

The Venezuelan communications ministry, which handles all press queries for the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward and Daphne Psaledakis, editing by Michelle Nichols, Christian Martinez)