The United States has lifted sanctions on Jorge Rodríguez, Venezuela’s National Assembly president, removing his name from the US Treasury Department’s list of sanctioned individuals. The change, reported on 15 October 2026 by NewsCord’s aggregation of international media coverage, reverses restrictions imposed during Donald Trump’s first administration and comes amid continuing negotiations between Washington and Caracas.
Rodríguez, who has led Venezuela’s National Assembly since 2021, is the brother of acting president Delcy Rodríguez. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) removed his name from its Specially Designated Nationals list, which identifies individuals and entities subject to US financial sanctions. According to the supplied report, the department did not provide a reason for the delisting, and the report said it had not immediately responded to questions about the decision.
The change has a direct connection to the United States because the sanctions framework restricted access to financial assets and property under US jurisdiction. The report describes the restrictions as including freezes on financial and real estate assets and prohibitions on holding checking accounts, investments or other assets in the United States. Removing Rodríguez from the list reverses his individual listing under that framework, although the supplied material does not establish that every restriction affecting him or other Venezuelan officials has been removed.
The decision comes against the backdrop of discussions over Venezuela’s oil sector and its political future. The report links the sanctions change to broader US-Venezuelan negotiations and an arrangement under which Washington would gain access to 17 Venezuelan oil fields. It also describes a deal involving US control over a substantial portion of Venezuela’s oil sector. The supplied account does not provide the agreement’s full terms or independently establish the precise operational status of the oil-field arrangements.
Energy-sector legislation is another part of the negotiations. According to the report, Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez were expected to amend Venezuelan law to allow more foreign companies to enter the country’s energy sector, citing reporting by Reuters. That expectation is not evidence that the proposed amendments have already been enacted. The report also places the delisting alongside planned negotiations concerning Venezuela’s political transition.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was reported to have said that another round of talks on Venezuela’s future was scheduled to begin on Wednesday, 14 October. The report also describes discussions involving opposition representatives and potential reforms to Venezuela’s judicial and electoral institutions. It does not establish the outcome of those discussions.
For the United States, the confirmed development in the supplied account is the removal of Rodríguez from the sanctions list, with a direct bearing on his status under US financial restrictions. The wider oil and political negotiations provide context for the decision, but the Treasury Department’s reasons for the delisting remain unspecified in the source. The available evidence does not establish that the change itself has produced a broader economic effect or completed any proposed reforms.