Trump says he canceled attacks on Venezuela, touts oil investments

US President Donald Trump announced he had called off a new military attack on Venezuela, saying the two countries were “working well together” to rebuild the country’s oil and gas infrastructure.

Write on Social truth On Friday, Trump highlighted Venezuela’s release of a “large number of political prisoners,” which he called a “very important and smart move.”

“As a result of this cooperation, I have canceled the previously expected second wave of attacks, which does not appear to be necessary, but all ships will remain in place for safety and security reasons,” Trump said.

At a news conference on January 3, Trump suggested that it was unlikely that a second attack on Venezuela would be deemed necessary because of what he called the success of the first operation.

“We are prepared to mount a second, much larger attack if necessary,” he told reporters at the time. “So we were prepared to do a second wave if we needed to. We actually assumed a second wave would be necessary. But now that’s probably not the case – the first wave, if you want to call it, the first attack was so successful that we probably don’t need to do a second wave, but we are prepared to do a second wave, a much larger wave.”

Washington launched a military operation in Venezuela this weekend that led to the capture of the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, both indicted on drug trafficking charges. The pair pleaded not guilty. Maduro claimed he was “kidnapped” and was a “prisoner of war” during a New York court appearance this week.

On Thursday, Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, announcement that the government would release a significant number of foreign and Venezuelan prisoners. The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, later said five Spanish prisoners had been released and were on a flight back to their home country.

Since Maduro’s ouster, Trump has turned his attention to the energy resources of oil-rich Venezuela, adage soon after the operation, he was in talks with oil giants to rebuild the country’s oil infrastructure.

In his Friday message, Trump said at least $100 billion would be invested in Venezuela by “big oil,” noting that he would meet with representatives of U.S. oil giants at the White House later Friday.

Chevron is currently the only oil major operating in Venezuela, and U.S. oil majors have so far remained largely silent on Trump’s push for their participation in rebuilding the country’s energy systems.

Venezuela, a founding member of the powerful OPEC energy alliance, has 303 billion barrels of crude oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This is about 17% of the world’s oil reserves, but it is currently estimated to be about 17% of the world’s oil reserves. produce It represents less than 1% of global oil production and exports only half of its production.

Tuesday, Trump said Venezuelan authorities would give the United States up to 50 million barrels of oil, which would be sold at market prices.

“This money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure that it is used for the benefit of the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump said at the time. Sources close to the White House later said CNBC that Venezuela will ship sanctioned oil to the United States indefinitely.

— CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this article.