The United States has announced it will control the sale of Venezuelan oil “indefinitely” and decide how the proceeds will be used, as President Donald Trump’s administration tightens its grip on the South American country after the president’s abduction.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced Wednesday that it would “begin selling” Venezuelan crude oil on global markets, and that all proceeds from sales would “first be settled into U.S.-controlled, globally recognized bank accounts.”
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“These funds will be expended at the discretion of the U.S. government for the benefit of the American people and the people of Venezuela.”
“These oil sales will begin immediately and are expected to total approximately 30 million to 50 million barrels. They will continue indefinitely.”
In the hours that followed, Trump himself weighed in on how the proceeds would be spent, suggesting that Venezuela had agreed to use the funds to buy products only from the United States.
“I have been informed that Venezuela plans to purchase only American-made products with the proceeds from the new oil deal,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“These purchases include, among other things, U.S. agricultural products, U.S.-made pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and equipment to improve Venezuela’s power grid and energy facilities.”
The announcement came days after the Trump administration abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday, which legal experts say is a clear violation of international law.
The United States has said it plans to “run” the country and control its vast oil reserves, and President Trump said on social media on Tuesday that Caracas would hand over 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S. government.
The U.S. action against Venezuela comes amid a months-long pressure campaign by the Trump administration against Maduro, who is facing drug trafficking charges in New York that he denies.
This includes a partial U.S. naval blockade of Venezuela and the seizure of several vessels that the Trump administration says were transporting oil to and from Venezuela in violation of U.S. sanctions.
Early Wednesday, U.S. special forces seized two Venezuelan-linked vessels, including a Russian-flagged vessel, in the North Atlantic for suspected sanctions violations.
The seizure occurred as senior U.S. officials were briefing lawmakers on Capitol Hill about the Trump administration’s plans for Venezuela.
Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, D.C., said that while most Republicans support President Trump’s actions, Democrats have many questions.
These include “how long this operation in Venezuela will last, how much it will cost, whether American military personnel will actually be on the ground in Venezuela, and what the response will be in Venezuela,” Fisher explained.
“The Trump administration wants to have everyone on its side by the end of today,” he added.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote on social media that Wednesday’s press conference was “worse” than she imagined.
“Oil company executives appear to know more about President Trump’s secret plan to ‘run’ Venezuela than the American people. We need a Senate hearing now,” she said.
three stage plan
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Wednesday that the Trump administration is moving forward with a three-phase plan, starting with the sale of Venezuelan oil.
“That money will be handled in such a way that we control how it is distributed so that it benefits the Venezuelan people, not corruption or the regime,” Rubio said.
In the second phase, the U.S. and other companies would gain access to the Venezuelan market and “begin creating a national reconciliation process so that rebels can be granted amnesty and released from prison or brought back into the country.”
“And the third phase will obviously be a transition phase,” Rubio added.
Gregory Belew, senior Iran and energy analyst at Eurasia Group, said the US announcement regarding control of Venezuelan oil sales signals a “return to the concession system” that was in place before the 1970s.
In a social media post, Belew explained that under the system, “the oil is owned by the producing countries, but Western companies control production and marketing and ultimately keep most of the profits.”
A United Nations group of experts also warned that recent statements by President Trump and other administration officials about plans to “run” Venezuela and exploit its oil reserves violate international law.
Specifically, the experts said the U.S. position violates “the right of peoples to self-determination and associated sovereignty over natural resources, which are fundamental to international human rights law.”
“Venezuela’s vast natural resources, including the world’s largest proven oil reserves, must not be cynically exploited through flimsy pretexts to justify military invasion, foreign occupation, or regime change strategies,” they said.
political instability
Renata Segura, director of the International Crisis Group’s Latin America and Caribbean program, noted that Venezuelan authorities have not commented on what the United States has said is a plan to regulate the country’s oil sales.
“Therefore, we have to assume that (Venezuelan authorities) have accepted these conditions or will only be forced to accept them,” Segura told Al Jazeera.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who took office earlier this week following Maduro’s abduction, stressed on Tuesday that “there is no foreign agent running Venezuela,” despite claims that the United States “runs” the country.
“There are a lot of discussions going on within the[Venezuela]regime itself about how to move forward,” Segura said in response to the U.S. statement, stressing that the political situation is still far from stable.
“What the military does is very important,” she said.
“Venezuela’s military holds enormous power, not only in the economy but also in the streets, and there may be a moment when they think they cannot participate in this particular deal that the United States is offering.”
