Trump administration lifts sanctions on Venezuela assembly chief Jorge Rodríguez
The Treasury Department removed Jorge Rodríguez, Venezuela’s National Assembly president and a central government negotiator, from the U.S. sanctions list without publicly stating a reason.
The Trump administration removed Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly and a leading government negotiator, from the United States’ main sanctions list on Wednesday, October 14, 2026.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control listed several name variants for Rodríguez as deletions from the Specially Designated Nationals list. The notice gave no explanation for the decision and announced no broader change to the Venezuela sanctions program.
What the sanctions change does
Placement on the SDN list generally blocks property and interests in property under U.S. jurisdiction and bars U.S. people from most transactions with the designated person. Removing Rodríguez from the list lifts those restrictions that arose from his designation. It does not by itself remove sanctions from other Venezuelan officials or authorize every transaction involving the Venezuelan government.
Rodríguez, 60, has led the National Assembly since 2021. He previously served as vice president under Hugo Chávez, as a government minister and as mayor of Caracas. His sister, Delcy Rodríguez, became Venezuela’s acting president after U.S. forces removed Nicolás Maduro from power earlier in 2026. Maduro is awaiting trial in the United States and has denied the charges against him.
The sanctions removal follows a similar U.S. step involving Delcy Rodríguez in April. It also comes as Washington and Caracas pursue a closer working relationship centered on political negotiations and access to Venezuela’s oil sector.
Why Rodríguez was sanctioned
The first Trump administration sanctioned Jorge Rodríguez in September 2018 as part of a group that Treasury described as Maduro’s inner circle. At the time, Treasury said Maduro had placed Rodríguez and his sister in senior government positions to help preserve his hold on power and strengthen authoritarian rule.
Wednesday’s OFAC notice did not say whether the administration now considers those earlier grounds resolved. Treasury has long maintained that sanctions can be changed or removed when U.S. policy goals or a designated person’s conduct warrants it. The new notice records the delisting but does not set out any commitments Rodríguez made in return.
Negotiations and oil ties
Reuters reported that Rodríguez has led the Venezuelan government’s team in intermittent talks with the United States and the opposition. A new round with an opposition faction was due to begin Wednesday as part of a U.S.-backed effort to reshape political institutions before elections, including possible changes to the electoral authority and the country’s highest court.
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has promised elections, but no firm date has been announced. Opposition leader María Corina Machado has called for a vote by July 2027. The government’s control of the legislature means Jorge Rodríguez would be a central figure in any reforms requiring new laws.
He has also guided energy and investment measures through the assembly since the change in government. Reuters reported that those measures opened more space for foreign oil companies, expanded private participation in mining and sought investment in the country’s damaged power system. Washington and Caracas have separately reached an arrangement giving the United States access to 17 oilfields, while Trump announced in August a plan to direct a large share of Venezuelan oil to the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The delisting therefore removes a legal obstacle affecting an official with influence over both political talks and economic legislation. But because Treasury offered no rationale, it remains unclear whether the action was tied to a specific negotiation, a broader normalization policy or another consideration. Any further sanctions relief, election timetable or institutional reform would require separate action.
Sources and image credit
Primary records: OFAC’s October 14 designation-removal notice and Treasury’s September 2018 designation statement. Independent reporting: Reuters (syndicated copy) and EL PAÍS.
Image: Press Office of Venezuela’s National Assembly, showing Jorge Rodríguez meeting Dinorah Figuera in Caracas on June 18, 2026; source file via Wikimedia Commons, marked public domain. Original National Assembly file. Cropped to 16:9.