United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright estimated this Tuesday that sales of Venezuelan oil managed by Washington could exceed US$10 billion a year, revenue that would help “rebuild” the South American country after the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro by American troops. “So far, we’ve sold about $1 billion worth of oil. We recently signed deals to sell another $5 billion in the next few months. So we’re talking well over $10 billion a year,” Wright told Fox News.
According to the secretary, who met in Caracas last week with the interim dictator of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, to promote a “historic” energy pact, this “huge volume of revenue” will be destined to “start rebuilding a country and a society, reestablishing a free press and a representative government”.
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The agreement between Delcy Rodríguez’s government and Washington to trade Venezuelan hydrocarbons will also provide “a specific type of oil for which American refineries were built in the 1970s” and “help with asphalt production in the US, making road construction cheaper,” Wright said. “It’s a win-win and the transformation of a country without a single American soldier on the ground and without a single dollar from the American taxpayer. It’s diplomacy [do presidente americano Donald] Trump is completely unconventional, marking a before and after”, insisted the secretary.
After the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on January 3, by American forces, President Trump called for “full access” to Venezuelan oil resources, while Wright assured that Washington will control the sale of the South American country’s oil for an “indefinite” period.
Upon concluding his meeting with Maduro’s former deputy, to whom Trump gave a vote of confidence to be his interlocutor and govern the country, the Secretary of Energy classified the cooperation between the US and Delcy Rodríguez’s government as “incredible”. However, Wright recalled that Washington maintains an instrument of pressure on Caracas by controlling the Venezuelan oil industry, its biggest source of income.
