Trump shows off tanker with ‘1m barrels of oil’ and floats Venezuela as 51st state

Trump no comício em Corpus Christi na terça-feira, com o caminhão-tanque ao fundo. Fotografia: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. Ver imagem em tela cheia. Trump no comício em Corpus Christi na terça-feira, com o caminhão-tanque ao fundo.

Prefer the Guardian on GoogleDonald Trump sugeriu que a Venezuela se tornaria o 51º estado dos Estados Unidos na terça-feira, enquanto o presidente exibiu um tanque que ele alegou ter “um milhão de barris de petróleo” vindo do país, nove meses após depor seu presidente.

At a campaign rally in Corpus Christ, Texas, Trump touted a US oil deal with Venezuela, which the US attacked in January, capturing its long-serving leader Nicolás Maduro.

Trump claims the agreement – struck with the South American country’s interim government, which is backed by Trump’s administration – will cover “billions” of barrels of oil.

Venezuela “will become a prosperous country, and who knows? Maybe some day soon it’ll become a prosperous 51st state,” Trump said at the podium on Tuesday. “That’s possible.”.

Venezuela está em uma lista crescente de países e territórios que Trump falou em adquirir, incluindo Groenlândia, Canadá e México.

With tens of millions of Americans set to vote in next week’s midterm elections, Trump’s aggressive foreign policy – including his controversial war on Iran, and tariffs on goods from much of the world – have challenged his popularity, according to opinion polls, with his approval ratings falling to record lows.

But on Tuesday, the president sought to point to the Venezuela operation as an example of his success. US fuel prices, which surged after the start of the Iran war, piling pressure on Americans’ cost of living, “will soon come plummeting down”, he claimed in a social media post.

Momentos antes de Trump subir ao palco no Texas, ele afirmou na plataforma Truth Social: "Ao liberar a Dominação Energética desde o Alasca, até a Venezuela, eu transformei o Hemisfério Ocidental na Capital Energética do Mundo.

The deal has also drawn skepticism as critics complained that the Trump administration has not pushed a transition to democracy in Venezuela, where elections have not been held since Maduro was detained by US forces and taken to New York to face criminal charges after a raid on his Caracas residence.

The urgency of the oil agreement stems from Trump’s opting into the war with Iran in February. Gas prices have shot up nationwide after Iran closed the strait of Hormuz, a passageway for 20% of the world’s oil supplies.