CARACAS, March 12, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Venezuelan exports to the United States, mainly of oil, rose 770 percent in 2023 from the previous year, after Washington eased some sanctions on the country, according to a report Monday from a US-based business chamber.
 
   Overall trade more than doubled in 2023 to over $6 billion, said the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry -- an increase of more than 127 percent.
 
   The figures were still far from a high of $38 billion recorded in 2008, when the United States was the South American nation's top crude oil customer, according to the chamber.
 
   Washington ramped up sanctions against Venezuela following President Nicolas Maduro's 2018 re-election -- widely seen as fraudulent -- to a second, successive term.
 
   Last year, Maduro's government and Venezuela's opposition agreed to hold free and fair elections in 2024, with observers present. The vote has since been scheduled for July 28.
 
   The agreement prompted Washington to ease sanctions against the oil-rich country, allowing US-based Chevron to resume limited crude extraction amid efforts to keep global oil prices down as the West pressed sanctions on Russia over its war on Ukraine.
 
   The deal required that opposition candidates be allowed to appeal court rulings disqualifying them from holding office ahead of the vote.
 
   Since then, however, the Supreme Court loyal to Maduro upheld a 15-year ban on opposition primary winner Maria Corina Machado, which prompted the United States to announce it was mulling the reintroduction of some sanctions.
 
   The chamber's report, based on statistics from the US Census Bureau, said Venezuelan exports to the United States increased by 770 percent in 2023.
 
   Oil exports made up 90.85 percent of the total.
 
   Imports from the United States rose by over 10 percent to $2.5 billion.
 
   Last week, a non-governmental observatory said consumer prices in economic crisis-hit Venezuela fell slightly in February, the first monthly drop in at least 17 years.