The move comes less than three months after US forces seized the country's previous leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife in a military raid in Caracas and took them to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

Rodríguez, a close ally of Maduro who served as his vice-president, had been placed on the sanctions list in 2018, with the US accusing her of undermining democracy. She was sworn in as interim president by Venezuela's National Assembly, which is dominated by Maduro loyalists, days after the US raid and has been described by Trump as "a terrific person". Rodríguez welcomed her removal from the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List.

Those named on the list have their assets in the United States blocked and US nationals are barred from doing business from them. In a post on X, Rodríguez called it "a significant step in the right direction to normalise and strengthen relations between our countries". White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said the move showed the progress that had been made "between our two countries to promote stability, support economic recovery, and advance political reconciliation in Venezuela".

"As President Trump has said, Delcy Rodríguez is doing a great job and is working with the United States very well," Kelly added. Opposition activists in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, however, were critical of the move, arguing that the US should exert pressure on Rodríguez to release all political prisoners still held in the country's jails. The release of political prisoners had been one of the key demands US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had made of Rodríguez in the wake of Maduro's removal.

And while the National Assembly has passed an amnesty law and hundreds of detainees have been freed, prisoners' rights group Foro Penal says that almost 500 political prisoners remain behind bars. The lifting of sanctions is the latest sign of warming relations between the Trump administration and Rodríguez's team. Earlier this week, the US officially reopened its embassy in Caracas, seven years after closing it. A Venezuelan diplomatic team has also been dispatched to the US to reopen its embassy in Washington. (BBC)