The US has issued a general licence allowing shipping companies to pay port fees and do other business with Venezuela's maritime authority as the country's political and economic crisis worsens.

The agency, Instituto Nacional de Los Espacios Acuaticos e Insulares (INEA), was sanctioned on 19 January as the outgoing administration of former President Donald Trump blacklisted it and others in an effort to dismantle an alleged Venezuelan oil smuggling operation.