U.S. authorizes Venezuela's interim regime to finance legal defense of former dictator Nicolás Maduro

The Treasury Department, through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), issued amended licenses allowing the interim regime of Venezuela to fund the legal defense of Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in the narcoterrorism case they face in a Manhattan federal court.

Until now, Washington had prevented the regime from bearing the couple's legal costs, due to international sanctions imposed on the country.

The decision was communicated this Friday in an official letter filed by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton before Judge Alvin Hellerstein, which stated that "the amended licenses authorize defense counsel to receive payments from the Government of Venezuela under certain conditions."

The letter states that the resources must be available after March 5, the date on which diplomatic relations between the two countries were formally reestablished, and cannot come from blocked accounts or oil sales subject to specific U.S. regulations.

The authorization marks a turnaround from previous months, when OFAC had annulled a similar license a few hours after granting it, which led the ex-dictator's defense to request the dismissal of the process alleging that his right to an adequate defense was violated.