Venezuela releases two prisoners who were working in American oil in the country | World

Among them is Gustavo Cardenas, a former CEO of Citgo, a refining subsidiary of we State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. was released. Tuesday, according to sources.

The move came a few days after Maduro met with top US officials who are considering lifting oil sanctions on Caracas. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden banned imports of Russian oil in response to the war in Ukraine.

Cardenas was one of six Citgo executives arrested during a trip to Venezuela in November 2017 under what the US government described as trumped-up corruption charges.

“We have decided to revitalize the national dialogue process,” Maduro said Monday on state television. “This dialogue should provide all political guarantees for the coming years,” he added.

There was no immediate information on the whereabouts of the released detainees, although they are expected to be transferred from Venezuela to me we do not be late.

Washington has called for the release of at least nine men, including one known as the “Citgo 6,” two former Green Berets, and a former US Marine.

US embargo on Russia

White House It imposed a ban on Russia on Tuesday In the purchase of gas, oil and coal from the country led by Putin.

“You we They attack the main artery of the Russian economy,” Joe Biden said. He announced that he has banned all Russian imports of oil, natural gas and coal. The measure takes effect immediately, with a 45-day window for contracts already signed, and has bipartisan support.

In 2021, the United States buys about 700,000 barrels of oil from Russia per day. It’s a little: 8% of the total Americans need. But this does not mean that the price of oil will not rise and have consequences for the entire world, according to Fernando Valle, oil and gas specialist at we.

Biden announced strategies to contain price hikes. The first is getting oil out of the US Strategic Reserve: 60 million barrels stored in underground tanks in Louisiana and Texas.

The problem is that 60 million barrels is not even a daily value of global oil demand. So the effect is very transient, and it does not have a long-term effect on the price,” says Fernando Valle.

The engagement with Maduro, longtime enemy of the United States, also aims to assess whether Venezuela Willing to distance themselves from Russia.

However, the Biden administration faced sharp criticism on Capitol Hill for its outreach to Maduro, who is under US sanctions for human rights abuses and political repression.

Senator Robert Menendez, a Democratic fellow Biden and chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged the White House not to seek a deal with Venezuela.

He said in a statement that Maduro “is a hemispheric cancer and we must not breathe new life into his reign of torture and murder.”

You we In 2019, he recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s legitimate president after Maduro’s 2018 re-election, which Western governments saw as a hoax.