The president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced his intention to make an official visit to Venezuela, although he specified that the date has not yet been defined.“I will visit Venezuela,” he declared at the White House in response to questions from the press, and added: “We have not decided.”
Meanwhile, Trump said that Washington formally recognized Delcy Rodríguez as interim president of Venezuela, displacing Nicolás Maduro after a US military operation carried out on January 3, which resulted in the capture of the former president and his wife.
Trump explained: “At this point, we’ve already done that. We’re dealing with them,” when answering whether his administration would officially recognize Rodríguez as an interlocutor.The president praised the management of the Chavista leader, stating: “Delcy has done a very, very good, excellent job. And the relationship is solid.”
The Republican explained that the bilateral relationship has been strengthened, especially in the energy field.”We have a great relationship with the president of Venezuela, we are working very closely. We have our big oil companies going to Venezuela, they are going to extract the oil and sell it for a lot of money, and Venezuela is going to receive a large part of that money,” he said.
The US Executive has handed over command of the political transition in Venezuela to Rodríguez and maintains direct supervision over his cabinet.The agreement reached with Caracas allows the reopening of the Venezuelan oil market to foreign companies, under US control.”The oil is coming out, and other nations are paying a lot of money for it, and we are taking care of it. We are refining it, and we are the only ones with the capacity to refine it,” Trump said regarding the role of US refineries in the Gulf of Mexico, key to processing Venezuelan heavy crude oil.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited Venezuela this week to meet with Rodríguez.In this context, the United States announced the issuance of two general licenses for five oil multinationals in order to fully resume their activities in Venezuela, along with the authorization for new companies to sign contracts under US supervision.The companies benefiting from this measure are Chevron, Eni, Repsol, BP and Shell.According to the notification, “all transactions” involving these firms in the Venezuelan oil field are permitted by the US administration, as are contracts for new investments in the oil and gas sector.
The partial lifting of sanctions, in force since 2019, represents a significant change in Washington’s policy towards the Venezuelan energy sector, historically restricted by a sanctions regime that affects both the production and export of crude oil.
The decision comes after the overthrow of Nicolás Maduro on January 3, when US special forces removed the former president from the country.After these events, the US government announced that it would only allow oil exports from Venezuela under its direct control, tightening surveillance over energy operations.
Since December, the United States maintained a blockade on Venezuela’s exports through “ghost ships,” vessels subject to sanctions and used to evade restrictions.
The new interim government, led by Delcy Rodríguez, quickly agreed to enter into negotiations with President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who assumed direct supervision of the situation in Venezuela. According to the statement, cooperation between both administrations facilitated the opening of the oil sector and the entry of foreign investment under conditions regulated by Washington.
(With information from EFE and AFP)
