WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. on Wednesday removed sanctions against Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez, according to the 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.
The Trump administration has closely engaged with the interim government led by former Vice President and Maduro ally Rodriguez, sending U.S. energy and interior secretaries on visits to Caracas with potential investors, making an agreement for the U.S. to sell Venezuelan oil, praising changes to the oil and mining sectors that are meant to attract foreign capital and issuing sanctions waivers.
Washington in March formally recognized Rodriguez as Venezuela's leader, opening the door for her government to reopen embassies and consulates in the U.S. and regain control of Venezuela-owned companies abroad.
Rodriguez hailed the decision, saying in a post on X that it was "a step in the direction of normalizing and strengthening relations between our countries."
"We trust that this progress will allow for the lifting of the sanctions currently in place on our country, enabling the building and guaranteeing of an effective bilateral cooperation agenda for the benefit of our peoples," she said.
The announcement of the sanctions removal came after Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday that Rodriguez's administration is getting ready to take over the boards of state oil firm PDVSA's U.S. subsidiaries, including Citgo Petroleum, citing four sources close to the preparations.
Citgo, the crown jewel of Venezuela's foreign assets, has been run since 2019 by supervising boards appointed by an opposition-led congress that is no longer active.
It has repeatedly been rumored that Rodriguez was making preparations to travel to the U.S. to meet with Trump. Though she has met with high-level delegations from other countries, she has not yet met in person with a head of state in her current role.
Many of the top ranking officials in Maduro's former government are sanctioned and several, including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and recent Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, face drug trafficking and other charges, which they deny.
Though neither Rodriguez nor her brother Jorge, who heads the National Assembly legislature, has been indicted for any alleged crimes in the U.S., Reuters reporting has shown the Trump administration has been quietly building a legal case against her to strengthen its leverage with Caracas.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward, Daphne Psaledakis and Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Michelle Nichols, Christian Martinez and Daniel Wallis)
