Delcy Rodríguez claimed the deal would help her country become ‘an energy powerhouse’. Photograph: Presidency Of Venezuela/EPAView image in fullscreenDelcy Rodríguez claimed the deal would help her country become ‘an energy powerhouse’.
Fotografia: Presidência da Venezuela/EPAVenezuela Delcy Rodríguez, da Venezuela, defende os 'benefícios infinitos' de seu acordo petrolífero com Trump. O acordo, que supostamente fará com que os EUA assumam o controle de 65 bilhões de barris de petróleo venezuelano, provocou indignação em seu país.
Prefer the Guardian on GoogleVenezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has defended her government’s highly controversial energy deal with Donald Trump, insisting the South American country will maintain ownership and sovereignty over its massive oil reserves.
Rodríguez, who assumed power in January after Trump ordered the abduction of the president, Nicolás Maduro, took to the airwaves on Saturday to push back against criticism of what the US president has called “the biggest oil deal in world history”.
Rodríguez said: “As everyone knows, our country has the biggest oil reserves in the world. But having resources underground isn’t enough. We need investment, technology, infrastructure [and] production capacity to convert this wealth into wellbeing for our people.”.
She added: “It’s no use having our oil reserves underground, only to appear in statistics or bookkeeping … and for us not to be able to convert and translate them into development for Venezuela.”.
Trump anunciou o acordo “inovador” na sexta‑feira, chamando‑o de “transação histórica [que] dobra mais que as reservas de petróleo americanas … enquanto ajuda a continuar a colocar a Venezuela em um caminho rumo ao Sucesso Tremendo e Grande Prosperidade”.
On Sunday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “One of the things I am going to do with the Venezuelan Oil is fill up the Strategic National Reserves which, because of Sleepy Joe Biden, has been virtually emptied.”.
Trump added: “The ‘topping out’ process will begin very shortly, and is a Gift from Venezuela to the People of the United States.”.
Hours after seizing Maduro on 3 January, Trump warned Rodríguez she would face an even worse fate if she failed to toe the US line. “If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump said.
Details of the agreement – struck during months of secret talks – remain sparse but it will reportedly see Washington take control of 65bn barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves.
O país sul‑americano detém as maiores reservas comprovadas de petróleo bruto do mundo, estimadas em 303 bilhões de barris, superando as 268 bilhões da Arábia Saudita e os 208 bilhões do Irã.
Rodríguez said the deal involved 17 “strategic oilfields” where it was hoped more than 1. 5m barrels could be produced each day.
Mas o acordo provocou indignação, tanto entre membros da oposição venezuelana quanto dentro do movimento político chavista do qual Rodríguez faz parte.
Speaking on Friday, one prominent opposition figure, who asked not to be named, called the agreement “a massive land grab” by a “rapacious, mafioso United States”.
Writing on X, Rafael Ramírez, the former head of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA, accused Rodríguez’s administration of “driving a dagger straight into the heart of the homeland” with the “neocolonial” transaction.
No sábado, dezenas de manifestantes de esquerda marcharam pela cidade de Caracas com faixas que diziam: “Não somos nem uma colônia, nem um quintal” e “Yankees, vão embora!”.
Critics of the agreement shared an ironic meme on social media suggesting the state oil company’s name should be changed from PDVSA to “PDUSA”.
In her broadcast, Rodríguez, the daughter of a Marxist guerrilla who spent years denouncing “imperialist” attempts to snatch her country’s oil reserves, countered claims she was surrendering Venezuela’s natural resources to a foreign power.
She thanked Trump and the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, for striking the deal but added: “There is something that must be made absolutely clear: Venezuela retains the ownership and sovereignty over its resources.”.
O acordo representa uma surpreendente virada de U da Rodríguez e do movimento político socialista, anti‑imperialista que ela e Maduro herdaram de Hugo Chávez após sua morte em 2013.
In one 2024 speech, footage of which circulated on social media after Friday’s announcement, Rodríguez lambasted the Venezuelan opposition, accusing it of seeking to surrender the country’s oil, natural gas and gold reserves to its “masters” in Washington.
Last September, as the US tightened the screws on Maduro, Rodríguez told the New York Times: “The Pentagon always had a strategic objective of obtaining Venezuelan reserves.”.
Opposition politicians fear the deal will scupper attempts to recover Venezuela’s democracy and hold fresh presidential elections. Maduro is widely believed to have stolen the last vote, in 2024, and Rodríguez has deflected questions about a future election, saying vaguely that it will happen “some day”.
Trump has also said Venezuela is “not really ready” for elections.
Escrevendo no X, o líder da oposição Juan Pablo Guanipa disse: “A única maneira de reativar de fato a economia venezuelana a longo prazo e fazer com que este acordo beneficie ambas as partes é por meio de uma eleição livre que leve a um governo representativo, regras claras do jogo, Estado de direito e instituições que permitam que nossos recursos sejam gerenciados de forma transparente e em benefício da nação.”.
Without that, the energy deal was like “a skyscraper [built] on pillars of clay”, Guanipa added.
Em números
- O acordo, que supostamente fará com que os EUA assumam o controle de 65 bilhões de barris de petróleo venezuelano, provocou indig
- Dita e os 208 bilhões do Irã
