The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued Venezuela related General License 60A on Friday, authorising transactions related to earthquake relief efforts in Venezuela, and published an amended frequently asked question, FAQ 1263, alongside it. The amended licence replaces its predecessor in the 60 series and is the operative permission for relief related activity that would otherwise be caught by the Venezuela sanctions programme.
The instrument is narrow by design. A general licence does not lift sanctions; it carves a defined channel through them, so that aid organisations, their banks, insurers and logistics providers can move money and goods for earthquake relief without applying for individual authorisations, and so that compliance departments can clear the transactions without legal risk.
Venezuela’s sanctions file has been active on this site all week, from the removal of a designation on October 15 to the World Bank lending package published yesterday. The relief licence belongs in the same frame: Washington is adjusting the programme at the margins, channel by channel, rather than reopening or closing it wholesale.