Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The United States could supervise Venezuela and control its oil revenues for years, President Donald Trump said in a New York Times interview published Thursday.
“Only time will tell” how long the United States will supervise Venezuela, Trump said. Asked by the newspaper whether it would be three months, six months, a year or more, Trump replied: “I would say a lot longer.”
“We’re going to rebuild it in a very cost-effective way,” Trump said of Venezuela, where he sent troops to capture President Nicolas Maduro in a nighttime raid Saturday.
“We’re going to use oil, and we’re going to take oil. We’re going to lower oil prices, and we’re going to give money to Venezuela, which it desperately needs.”
Trump on Tuesday unveiled a plan to refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil stuck in Venezuela under the U.S. blockade.
WATCH | Exploiting Venezuelan oil is not without its many challenges:
Venezuela has one of the largest oil deposits in the world, but not all oil is equal. CBC’s Johanna Wagstaffe explains how millions of years of buried seabed and oil-eating bacteria have transformed this reserve into one of the heaviest and hardest-to-extract crudes on the planet.
Trump told the Times that the United States was “getting along very well” with the government of interim President Delcy Rodríguez, a longtime Maduro loyalist who had served as the ousted leader’s vice president.
“They give us whatever we think is necessary,” Trump said, referring to the Venezuelan government.
He declined to comment when asked whether he had personally spoken to Rodríguez, but said Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to him “all the time.”
“I will tell you that we are in constant communication with her and the administration.”
The Times said Trump refused to answer questions about why he had not supported Venezuela’s opposition, which is made up of conservative politicians. Washington had previously considered Edmundo González – who ran against Maduro in the 2024 elections after Maria Corina Machado was excluded from the contest – as the rightful winner of the vote.
Immediately after Maduro’s arrest, he stated that Machado did not have the support of the Venezuelan people, without providing any specific information to support this claim.
Trump told Times reporters that he would eventually like to visit the South American country.
“I think at some point it will be safer,” he said. During the campaign for the 2024 presidential election, he repeatedly declared that the capital Caracas was safer “than many of our cities,” while seeking to denigrate Democratic leaders in several American cities.
Oil industry leaders to meet at White House
Trump has said the United States intends to “rule” Venezuela, while other U.S. officials have indicated their plan for now is to exert influence without military occupation.
Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, has become impoverished in recent decades, with eight million people fleeing abroad in one of the world’s largest migration crises.
WATCH | The American Secretary of Energy says he is “blocked” by the interest in Venezuela:
The United States is strengthening its grip on Venezuela’s oil supplies after seizing two more tankers, including one flying a Russian flag. The United States said the tankers were part of a “ghost fleet” carrying sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
Washington and the Venezuelan opposition have long blamed the ruling Socialist Party for corruption, mismanagement and brutality. Maduro blamed U.S. sanctions for the economic damage.
Several senior U.S. officials said Wednesday that the United States must control Venezuela’s oil sales and revenues indefinitely in order to restore the country’s oil industry and rebuild its economy.
Trump is scheduled to meet with executives of major oil companies at the White House on Friday to discuss ways to increase Venezuela’s oil production.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a CNBC interview on Wednesday that he spoke with the CEOs of Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron immediately after Maduro’s capture and that he hoped they would engage in the rehabilitation of Venezuela’s oil sector.
“Are they going to invest billions of dollars in building new infrastructure in Venezuela next week? Of course not,” he said. “But they want to be productive advisors and assistants in this process.”
Senate vote to limit Trump to pressure
The US Senate is set to consider a resolution on Thursday that would block Trump from taking further military action against Venezuela without congressional authorization.
The U.S. Constitution requires any president to obtain congressional approval before launching a prolonged military operation.
WATCH | Charles Shapiro, former US ambassador, skeptical of the White House plans:
The Trump administration says it has a three-step plan for Venezuela’s recovery, stability and rehabilitation, which includes the United States selling 30 to 50 barrels of the country’s oil on world markets. Former U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela Charles Shapiro told Power & Politics he was skeptical of the plan.
Last week, dozens of Republican lawmakers opposed to the war powers resolution insisted that Maduro’s capture was a law enforcement operation and not a military action, underscoring a long-standing indictment in the United States for the capture of the Venezuelan autocrat.
They also assert that Trump has the right as commander in chief to launch limited military actions that he deems necessary for national security.
Republicans have blocked previous measures introduced since the Trump administration stepped up military pressure on Venezuela over the summer, when it doubled the reward for Maduro’s capture and then, starting in September, carried out U.S. military strikes on boats the administration said were carrying drugs.
Since Maduro’s capture, some lawmakers have accused the administration of misleading Congress, including Democrats publicly and some Republicans behind the scenes.
Some Republicans may be wary of a prolonged and costly regime change campaign in Venezuela. Trump said on his Truth Social website on Wednesday that he wants the US military budget to increase from US$1.5 trillion to US$1.5 trillion.
Sen. Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, and Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia are co-sponsoring the resolution.
“President Trump’s unauthorized military attack on Venezuela to stop Maduro – terrible as it was – is a sickening throwback to a time when the United States asserted the right to dominate the internal political affairs of all nations in the Western Hemisphere,” Kaine said in a recent statement.
LISTEN | Professor of Latin American history on the creation of modern Venezuela:
Front burner33:13Chavez, Maduro and the creation of Venezuela
“This history is full of failures, and with more than that, it is difficult to say with candor that other countries should respect U.S. sovereignty when we do not do the same.”
Senate passage would constitute a significant censure for lawmakers who have pushed the war powers issue, although it would require the support of at least four Republicans, given that Vice President J.D. Vance is breaking the tie vote.
This assumes all Democrats support the measure. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted against an October measure and expressed support for the U.S. raid that captured Maduro.
But to become law, the resolution would have to pass the Republican-led House of Representatives and survive Trump’s expected veto, which would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers.
