Venezuela's Chavistas March for Full Sanctions Removal — Washington Hasn't Budged

Hundreds of pro-government demonstrators flooded central Caracas on Tuesday, October 13, demanding the complete removal of U.S. economic restrictions — a street-level pressure campaign directed at an administration that has selectively eased financial penalties while keeping Venezuela's core sanctions architecture firmly intact.

The rally spotlights a widening gap between what Chavismo demands and what Washington has actually delivered, more than nine months after U.S. forces captured President Nicolás Maduro during Operation Absolute Resolve and triggered a diplomatic reset between the two countries.

A Party-Orchestrated Show of Force

The PSUV-called mobilization moved through Caracas's historic center under the banner Gran Marcha de los Trabajadores por la Paz. Caracas city chief Nahum Fernández delivered a formal document to the Chavista-controlled National Assembly on behalf of the demonstrators, telling the crowd that Acting President Delcy Rodríguez's government remains "the only one capable of guaranteeing stability and wellbeing" for the Venezuelan people — a framing that sidesteps the opposition's calls for elections.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello told those assembled that sanctions have been "a campaign of hatred against the country" — targeting not just political leaders but ordinary Venezuelans. He added that further rollbacks from Washington were expected, a reference to the partial oil sector relief issued since January.

The Sanctions Picture: Partial Relief, Persistent Pressure

The U.S. economic squeeze on Venezuela did not end with Maduro's removal — it shifted. Between January 29 and February 13, 2026, OFAC issued five foundational General Licenses (GL 46 through GL 50) unlocking portions of Venezuela's oil and gas sector. Key authorizations included permission for established U.S. entities to engage in Venezuelan crude oil transactions (GL 46), the export of U.S.-origin diluents (GL 47), and goods and services for upstream oil operations (GL 48). A further General License — GL 60 — authorized earthquake relief through October 23, 2026, following a destructive seismic event in June.

On April 1, the Treasury Department removed Rodríguez personally from the OFAC sanctions list — where she had appeared since September 2018 — in a move she called "an important step in the right direction." She expressed hope that further restrictions would ultimately be lifted.

That full lifting has not materialized. The underlying Venezuela Sanctions Regulations (VSR) framework — restricting dealings with the Venezuelan government and hundreds of Specially Designated Nationals — remains operative. Non-oil sectors including banking, mining, and large swaths of the public sector still face restrictions. Cabello himself remains a U.S.-sanctioned individual.

Two Marches, Two Venezuelas

What made Tuesday's scene particularly striking was the simultaneous — and fully independent — protest mounted by Venezuelan labor unions just blocks away.

Healthcare and education trade unions brought an estimated 2,000 workers to the streets the same day, submitting a petition carrying more than 45,000 signatures to government representatives near Miraflores Palace. Police stopped the column several blocks short of the presidential building. Their demands had nothing to do with Washington: they want Venezuela's monthly minimum wage — frozen at 130 bolívars (approximately US $0.15) since March 2022 — recalculated to reflect real living costs, and holiday bonuses pegged to actual income rather than the nominal statutory figure.

FETRASALUD leader Pablo Zambrano put it pointedly: "It looks like the plan is to invite foreign capital by offering cheap labor." The comment was a direct rebuke of the Rodríguez government's foreign investment push — the same economic opening that Washington has used to justify its selective sanctions easing.

The distance between the two marches — one addressing the United States, the other addressing Caracas — reflects the dual squeeze confronting Venezuela's government: external pressure from Washington and mounting internal pressure from its own labor base.

A Dialogue at a Crossroads

Rodríguez has spent most of 2026 navigating a precarious political corridor. She has freed hundreds of political prisoners, presided over the formal restoration of U.S.-Venezuela diplomatic ties on March 5, and overseen the reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas on March 30 — following an initial flag-raising ceremony at the building on March 14. She has also opened Venezuela's nationalized oil sector to private investment — all concessions that have earned partial sanctions relief but fall well short of the full economic normalization her government demands.

A National Popular Consultation is scheduled for October 18, inviting Venezuelan community councils and communes to vote on local development and investment priorities. The chavista mechanism is not an electoral exercise; the unresolved question of a democratic transition timeline — including when and how elections will be held — is a separate and ongoing demand that the U.S.-backed opposition and Washington continue to push. In April 2026, Cabello dismissed the electoral prospect with characteristic directness, asking: "Elections for what? So the results aren't recognized again?"

That question — about elections, democratic legitimacy, and the precise conditions under which Washington would fully dismantle its economic restrictions — remains the central unresolved fault line in the Venezuela-U.S. relationship. Until it is answered, the marches will keep coming.

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