Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez has signed a reform bill paving the way for greater privatization of South America’s nationalized oil sector, fulfilling a key demand from her country’s US president, Donald Trump.
On Thursday, Rodriguez held a signing ceremony with a group of state oil workers. She hailed the reform as a positive step for Venezuela’s economy.
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“We’re talking about the future. We’re talking about the country that we’re going to give our children,” Rodriguez said.
The ceremony took place within hours of Congress, which is dominated by members of Rodríguez’s United Socialist Party, passing the reform bill.
“Only good things will come after suffering,” said Jorge Rodríguez, the president of Congress and the interim president’s brother.
Since the U.S. military abducted former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on January 3, the Trump administration has been pressuring President Rodríguez to open the country’s oil sector to outside investment.
President Trump even warned that Mr. Rodriguez “could pay a very high price, perhaps even more than Mr. Maduro,” if he did not comply with his demands.
Thursday’s bill would give private companies control over the sale and production of Venezuelan oil.
It would also require legal disputes to be resolved outside Venezuelan courts, a change long sought by foreign companies who say the country’s judicial system is dominated by the ruling Socialist Party.
The bill also caps the amount of royalties collected by the government at 30%.
While Rodriguez signed the reform bill, the Trump administration also announced it would ease some sanctions restricting the sale of Venezuelan oil.
The Treasury Department said it would allow limited transactions by the government and state oil company PDVSA “necessary for the extraction, export, re-export, sale, resale, supply, storage, marketing, purchase, delivery, and transportation of Venezuelan crude oil by established U.S. entities, including refining.”
Previously, Venezuela’s entire oil sector was subject to broad U.S. sanctions imposed in 2019 during President Trump’s first term.
Thursday’s series of changes are aimed at making Venezuela’s oil market more attractive to outside oil companies, many of which remain wary of investing in the country.
Under Maduro, Venezuela experienced a wave of political repression and economic instability, and although Maduro himself is currently awaiting trial in a New York prison, much of the government remains intact.
His abduction left dozens of people dead and critics have accused the United States of violating Venezuela’s sovereignty.
Venezuela nationalized its oil sector in the 1970s, and in 2007 Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, called on the government to tighten its grip and seize foreign-held assets.
Following Maduro’s abduction, Trump administration officials said the United States would decide to whom and on what terms Venezuelan oil would be sold, and that the proceeds would be deposited into U.S.-controlled bank accounts.
Concerns about the legality of such measures and Venezuela’s sovereignty have been sidelined by Trump and his allies, who have previously argued that Venezuelan oil “belongs” to the United States.
