Seven Years of Financial Isolation End as Washington Lifts Sanctions on Venezuela’s Central Bank

RioTimes Deep Analysis | Series: The Global Lens

Updated April 15, 2026 — Washington sanctioned Venezuela’s central bank to punish Maduro. Now it has unsanctioned it to pay for the oil that Maduro’s removal was supposed to unlock.

The US lifted Venezuela central bank sanctions on Tuesday when OFAC published General License 57, authorizing dollar transactions with the Banco Central de Venezuela and three state-owned banks for the first time since 2019. The Rio Times, the Latin American financial news outlet, reports that the measure is the most significant financial step in the post-Maduro reconstruction sequence—removing the last major barrier that had prevented revenue from oil and gas licenses and gold trade authorizations from actually flowing through the banking system.

What the Venezuela Central Bank License Allows

The license covers a sweeping range of operations: dollar-denominated transfers, correspondent banking services, payment processing, remittance sending and receiving, salary and pension disbursements, digital wallet transactions, and participation in foreign exchange markets. The four institutions covered—the BCV, Banco de Venezuela (the country’s largest retail bank by customers, nationalized by Chávez), Banco Digital de los Trabajadores, and Banco del Tesoro—together hold the national public payroll.

A separate License 56, also issued Tuesday, authorizes companies to negotiate and bid on commercial contracts with the Venezuelan government—opening the door for infrastructure deals in the electricity sector and other strategic areas where the IMF projects 4% growth in 2026 and 6% in 2027. OFAC also removed former Attorney General Reinaldo Muñoz from the Specially Designated Nationals list on the same day.

The Reconstruction Timeline

The BCV license is the 13th major OFAC action since Maduro’s capture on January 3. The sequence has followed a clear logic: oil licenses in February for Chevron, Repsol, BP, Eni, and Shell; diplomatic normalization on March 5; further oil relaxation on March 18; embassy reopening on March 24; Delcy Rodríguez removed from the sanctions list on April 1; and now the central bank. Each step expanded what companies could do in Venezuela, but until Tuesday the banking system itself remained blocked—meaning revenue accumulated in limbo.

Roughly $1 billion had already been routed to the BCV from oil sales via Qatar and the US, but compliance bottlenecks at correspondent banks prevented disbursement. Alejandro Grisanti of Caracas-based Ecoanalítica said the license will restore channels with international banks, reduce operational friction, and give Venezuela’s foreign exchange market “real depth for the first time in years.”

Inflation, the IMF, and What Remains

The urgency is driven by inflation. Venezuela closed 2025 near 500% and the rate has continued climbing in 2026, with some economists warning of a return to hyperinflation. Acting President Rodríguez admitted the crisis was caused by the government’s own policies and announced a minimum wage increase for May 1—the first meaningful adjustment after four years with the formal salary frozen at 130 bolívares, worth less than $0.50.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went further at the IMF Spring Meetings on Tuesday, publicly endorsing Venezuela’s reintegration into the Fund and saying the IMF is “working to bring Venezuela back and make it look like a normal economy.” Full IMF, World Bank, and BID access would unlock reconstruction credit lines, but requires the BCV to demonstrate independence from the executive—a condition complicated by the fact that the central bank is currently led by Laura Guerra Angulo, the aunt of Maduro’s son.

The Original Bottleneck—and Why This Fix Was Inevitable

As this publication reported last week, the payment bottleneck had become the single biggest obstacle to the 40% production increase that US Energy Secretary Chris Wright projected for 2026. Local contractors working to restart wells could not get paid because banks refused to process transactions linked to sanctioned institutions. With the Iran conflict reducing global supply and US gasoline prices at three-year highs, every barrel mattered, and the sanctions Washington imposed were blocking the barrels Washington needed.

The sanctions are lifting, the dollars are starting to flow, and the institutional reform that would make the money permanent has barely begun. Washington’s Venezuela policy continues on two parallel tracks—prosecuting Maduro on narcoterrorism charges in a Brooklyn courtroom while deepening economic integration with the government that replaced him—and the logic is now explicit: the IMF forecasts 4% growth, Bessent endorses Fund reintegration, and OFAC is issuing licenses at roughly one per week. The question is no longer whether Venezuela reconnects to the global financial system but whether its institutions can handle the money responsibly once it arrives.

Related Coverage: Venezuela: Chevron and Shell Sign Oil Deals • US Licensed Gold Trade With Venezuela • IMF WEO: Latin America Grows 2.3%