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"Almost four months after the detention of former Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, political and financial experts have stressed that lifting US sanctions is key to boosting the country's economic growth. Footage filmed on Wednesday shows routine life in Caracas, with merchants offering their products on the streets, and people stocking up in supermarkets and grocery stores. Political analyst Pablo Andres Quintero noted that there is a closer relationship with private enterprise, as well as licenses that allow oil activity to continue strengthening. "Venezuela today is above 1 million barrels of oil per day. It is estimated that it could reach 2 million if things improve this year. Without a doubt, there are many changes, but in the economic dimension. However, these changes could accelerate for the benefit of the population if there is a lifting of sanctions, a total lifting of sanctions," he said. "I say this because for Venezuela to receive fresh money from oil sales, it is necessary that those bureaucratic obstacles produced by sanctions disappear so that operations can be carried out more freely," he continued. He also claimed that the US is 'using Venezuela' to be able to supply itself with oil, and avoid the impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the war against Iran. "If Venezuela continues to be sanctioned, if Venezuela continues to be pressured, it will be very difficult for the Venezuelan productive apparatus and the [oil] industry to grow this year," he explained. Meanwhile, financial analyst Jose Ignacio Guarino claimed that Venezuela is subject to more than 1,190 coercive measures that prevent it from accessing international financial markets. "That is, you cannot do business as a state beyond the 16 or 18 licenses that we have so far, which allow you, in some way, to begin to re-enter the game," he explained. Guarino added that, after Maduro's capture, expectations for economic growth have not been met due to US sanctions. "The basic basket in Venezuela is above 600 dollars, while the minimum wage, which does not mean it is the Venezuelan minimum income [...] is around one dollar or 0.5 cents of a dollar [...] This is not a criticism of the National Executive of Venezuela, it is a reality based on the blockade and the sanctions to which Venezuela has been subjected," he stated. On January 3, the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, charging them with narcoterrorism. The operation included bombings in Caracas and several states, and left at least 100 dead, according to Venezuelan authorities. In 2015, the US government blocked assets of Venezuelan officials for 'undermining democracy and abusing human rights.' The sanctions were expanded under President Donald Trump's administration in 2017. Likewise, the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland followed with measures freezing assets of the South American country. Since Maduro's capture, several of these sanctions have been partially eased or modified amid the ongoing political transition. "
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