Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, who is completing one hundred days in office following the capture of Nicolas Maduro, stated this Wednesday that she is committed to a "long-term" relationship with the United States and to consolidating a "joint agenda for shared development."

In a video she shared on In a Telegram message, Rodriguez expressed her team's "full willingness" to "consolidate and build solid foundations for a long-term energy agenda" with the US, a country with which Venezuela resumed diplomatic relations last March after a seven-year break. "We are working very hard on changes that will attract investment and allow us to build an energy cooperation agenda with the United States. Resuming this path is important for both countries," said the Chavista leader, who insists on the lifting of sanctions to allow "all investments to fully develop." Rodriguez held what she described as a productive working meeting on Tuesday with a delegation from the US Department of Energy, headed by the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy, Kyle Haustveit. She also confirmed that her government has held meetings with representatives of companies such as ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, among other “groups,” more than two months after the reform of the Hydrocarbons Law that opened the sector to private and foreign investment. The president made no mention of the measure taken Tuesday by the US government to lift sanctions imposed on the public banking system, including the Central Bank of Venezuela. The measure, announced by the Treasury Department, also includes the Bank of Venezuela, the Digital Workers' Bank, the Treasury Bank, and any entity in which any of these institutions has a direct or indirect stake of 50% or more. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a license permitting "commercial transactions" with the Venezuelan government, with prior authorization from Washington.