Venezuela

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Hundreds more in Venezuela say their loved ones are ‘political prisoners’

GUANARE, Venezuela (AP) — Freedom came too late for Edilson Torres.

https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-prisoners-released-us-maduro-rodriguez-7dc52c3ed6251f561b7754fd50182588?

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Venezuela’s acting president signs oil industry overhaul, easing state control to lure investors

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez on Thursday signed a law that opens the nation’s oil sector to privatization, reversing a tenet of the self-proclaimed socialist movement that has ruled the country for more than two decades.

https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-oil-reform-delcy-rodriguez-5784394afdc3ee0017d2f41427253fd8?

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Venezuela’s acting president signs oil industry overhaul, easing state control to lure investors Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez on Thursday signed a law that opens the nation’s oil sector to privatization, reversing a tenet of the self-proclaimed socialist movement that has ruled the country for more than two decades. Read more.

Why this matters: Venezuela has the largest proven reserves of crude in the world. The reform will undoubtedly be her government’s signature policy as it positions the oil sector – Venezuela’s engine – to lure the foreign investment needed to revamp a long-crippled industry. Rodríguez enacted the measure less than a month after the brazen seizure of then President Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military attack in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.   At the same time, the U.S. Department of the Treasury officially began to ease punishing economic sanctions on Venezuelan oil and expanded the ability of U.S. energy companies to operate in Venezuela. Rodríguez on Thursday spoke with President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who a day earlier explained to U.S. senators in a hearing how the administration is planning to handle the sale of tens of millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela and oversee where the money flows.

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💰 Scoop: Big Venezuela gold deal

Venezuela's state-owned mining company inked a multimillion-dollar deal to sell as many as 1,000 kilograms of gold destined for U.S. markets, two sources familiar with the deal tell Axios' Marc Caputo.

• Why it matters: The arrangement shows the tightening commercial bonds between Venezuela and the U.S. after President Trump ousted that nation's indicted socialist dictator and exerted de facto control over its oil-rich petroleum company.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who arrived in Venezuela yesterday to discuss oil and mineral opportunities, helped shepherd the gold contract.

• This is the third extraction deal made under the Trump administration's supervision after the U.S. took control of Venezuela's most crucial and abundant resource, oil.

Keep reading.

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⚡ Milestone: U.S. flag rises in Venezuela

Photo: Ariana Cubillos/AP The American flag was raised yesterday over the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, for the first time in seven years, highlighting the shift in relations since President Nicolás Maduro was captured in January. Keep reading.

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Venezuela says it deported a close ally of Maduro to face criminal proceedings in US

MIAMI (AP) — Venezuela’s government said Saturday it deported a close ally of Nicolás Maduro facing several criminal investigations in the U.S. less than three years after the businessman was pardoned by President Joe Biden as part of a prisoner swap.

https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-us-maduro-ally-057c22fe6e9b7022388eaeea2f1ecb52?

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🇻🇪 Venezuela oil logjam

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images

Nearly eight months after President Trump predicted U.S. companies would "rapidly rebuild Venezuela's dilapidated oil industry" to boost production, no new petroleum deals have been finalized with American firms. The U.S. Department of Energy is largely to blame, a dozen oil industry professionals, senior U.S. officials and Venezuela insiders tell Axios' Marc Caputo. 📈 Why it matters: The price of oil is climbing as the Iran war squeezes global supplies, spotlighting the absence of finalized deals in Venezuela — a nation with the highest estimated petroleum reserves on the planet. "We have no new concessions. No new deals. It is absolutely a problem," a senior U.S. official told Axios. "The Energy Department is in charge of this and they have some explaining to do." The Energy Department and its defenders call the criticisms misleading and unfair. Between the lines: Trump's plan was complicated by two divides — one in his own government, the other in the oil industry. 🥊 Trump's administration is split between MAGA types and regulatory professionals: MAGA loyalists want Washington to heed Trump's Jan. 9 comments and force Venezuela's state-run oil company, called PDVSA, to quickly adopt common international industry contracting standards. The more cautious bureaucrats in the Energy Department, who have relatively little international oil-industry experience, advocated for a slower process, working more collaboratively with Caracas. 🛢️ The oil industry is split between major global firms that move relatively slowly and deliberatively, and smaller independent firms — nicknamed "wildcatters" — known for their speed and higher risk tolerance. The "majors," like Exxon and ConocoPhillips, publicly made clear they were cool to the idea of going back to Venezuela because of all the uncertainty. But several wildcatters were eager to get in. Keep reading.