first
Orange Hitler is coming for Cuba next
>>2640969at the very least they haven't sold themselves out to the united states
>>2641008We know, US State Dept.
>>2641008no one likes you. go away and think about your life
You know, this might result in every Leftcom outside the West becoming a Third-Worldist. How does one tolerate such continuous stream of shit falling from the mouths of fellow tendency adherents?
>>2641024does he know that most leftcoms are third worlders?
>>2641030i'm citing personal experience there
>>2641079gotta learn Chinese o algo.
Cuban Americans need to be treated like nazis post ww2 tbh. Never met a cuban american who was not scum of the earth
>>2641166Already started my daily routine of learning.
>>2641079Based.
>Get nukes>Kill glowies>Be safe >>2642041That's basically what it was under Fulgencio Batista
whose regime Marco Rubio's parents actually fled from, contrary to his LYING >>2642206I don't get the "joke." This strikes me as a lib meme which is >implying that Amerikkka learned the Art Of The Coup from the USSR. America has been doing way more coups that anyone else between the 1950s and now. If anything, a Soviet-backed coup was the exception rather than the rule, and the "example" in your image was immediately fucked up by CIA operation cyclone.
>>2641008You're the worst.
>>2641008May the long suffering Cuban people become free of the regime
90 miles to their North >>2642212That the usa government although initally sucessful has set it self up for a afgahn teir fiasco
>>2641021>>2641058>muh pedophile journalists!Wtf is with your fixation on journalists? Is it a leftcom thing?
>>2642219Ah, true true. But they would have to commit to a ground invasion to make the same mistake as the Soviets. Also The Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan was already called the "Soviet Vietnam" by American glowies. If anything, this "soviet mistake" is one Americans have already made several times, In Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. even if you only count "boots on the ground"
>>2642219Venezuelans are not Afghanis. Afghanistan has a long history of resistance and a tribal warrior culture.
>>2642236Why are you so quick to dismiss the charges against him? If somebody was a pedo then "investigating pedophilia" would be a great excuse to look at naked kids.
>>2642240I've been trying to find the documentary to see what it is about but I can't find it, and there is no public info by the Cuban government
He was stupid enough to go back to Cuba after releasing the documentary, I'll give you that.
GASP the horror. A journalist was arrested.
wait until he learns that journalists are usually used by intelligence agencies to gather information and conspire against government.
imagine also setting up regular-basis state affairs as an excuse to dismiss solidarity against invasion.
straightforward reactionary. of course, he 'left' communism.
>>2642302
The problem is you see a communist government jailing somebody for pedophilia and immediately assume without evidence that they were jailed because they were "exposing" pedophilia. This is just anti-communist bias in a nutshell, assuming the worst just because.
>>2642304he will tell you that Cuba isn't communist.
worst thing is:
that wasn's a even journalist it was a
>as general manager for a chain of Spanish hotels.[source]:
https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2011/07/20/inenglish/1311139244_850210.htmlthe prosecution charged him with corrupting minors because they investigated the allegations presented in the video, and found that the 'journalist' was fabricating evidence, hence, corrupting minors:
>En la vista, a la que no tiene acceso la prensa extranjera, han comenzado a declarar varios testigos, entre ellos algunos de los jóvenes que aparecieron en el reportaje televisivo>In the hearing, which is closed to the foreign press, several witnesses have begun to testify, including some of the young people who appeared in the television report.[source]
https://www.cubaencuentro.com/txt/cuba/noticias/declaran-testigos-en-juicio-contra-espanol-acusado-de-proxenetismo-265555the kids declared in court.
this is the level of sectarianism he's embedded with. the US, a nation directed by a pedo, will be concerned about anything related to a fucking weak case, not made by a journalist as he initially presented but a chain hotel manager, that he's cherrypicking to virtue signaling on something that trump vice signaling on a regular basis.
>which is closed to the foreign press
Lol
>>2642261>>2642236>i will dismiss that he is a pedophile but Castro absolutely must have trafficked children!Air tight reasoning
>>2642342>He is a pedophileProofs?
>>2642347Proofs Castro is trafficking children?
>>2642351Castro didn't traffic children though
>>2642353>>2641021> Stop pimping kids, Fidel< Castro didn't traffic children thoughI accept your concession.
oh would you look at that, Ferrate, the 'journalist' was a cop for the OTAN-Spanish government:
>Barcelona-based investigative journalist Sebastian Martinez Ferrate helped us with the business registers. He previously held a senior position in the Guardia Civil, the police in Spain, with an enormous network of contacts throughout the country.https://www.skup.no/sites/default/files/metoderapport/2023-11/dataskup-2023---jakten-pa-shakeel.pdffucking leftcom is not only sectarian, loves nato cops.
>>2642237>AfghanisThat's the currency. The people are just called Afghans.
>Afghanistan has a long history of resistance and a tribal warrior culture.Graveyard of empires
where did this leftcom anon come from, I didn't see him a few months ago. He wrecks every fucking geopolitics thread now. Let
>>2642370
>pffft, uhhhh, I was only pretending to be retarded?
Cope
>>2642237Do you actually think Venezuela has no guerrilla history? Hugo Chavez literally got his ideology from Hoxhist militias in the 70s and 80s, ELN and FARC remnants are there, RIGHT NOW
>>2642373I think he’s Mexican
>>2642367How does any of that proves that he is a pedophile and that the Cuban regime was correct in jailing him?
Malding, fuming, even
>>2642378
More cope.
I don't really trust the "cuban dissidents" that the western media is pushing since most former eastern bloc dissidents are today Adolf Hitlers.
>>2642383he was not charged as a pedophile, he was charged on two accounts, one pimping kids, another corrupting minors. he got one of the charges dropped, the other got him into jail, corrupting minors. he faced the kids in court. he had a lawyer, he couldn't prove he wasn't manipulating the kids.
now, get gtfo.
>>2642385that'd me pure projection.
>>2642388that was waaaay before epstein got accused. look how young Fidel was. probably early 2000s.
>>2642392>Corrupting minorsThat's literally the crime that pedophiles commit.
>>2642400>he couldn't prove he wasn't manipulating the kids.Where is teh proof
You have to be very autistic to believe that suspecting there is child prostitution in Cuba is a "glowie" position, Cuba, like other latam nations, is a poor, patriarcal, nation. To blindly trust the Cuban government that they held a private court and it was proved there that he abuses minors, just to be released after is incredibly foolish.
>>2642400you are a moron.
it's not:
<On “Corrupción de menores” — Código Penal (Ley No. 62, 1987), Art. 310 (Spanish).https://oig.cepal.org/sites/default/files/1987_codigopenal_cuba.pdf>ARTÍCULO 310. El que induzca a un menor de 16 años, de uno u otro sexo, a ejercer el homosexualismo o la prostitución o a concurrir a lugares en que se practique el vicio o actos de corrupción, o a realizar cualquier otro acto deshonesto de los previstos en este Código, incurre en sanción de privación de libertad de dos a cinco años.>ARTICLE 310. Anyone who induces a minor under 16 years of age, of either sex, to engage in homosexual acts or prostitution, or to frequent places where vice or acts of corruption are practiced, or to perform any other dishonest act provided for in this Code, shall be subject to a penalty of imprisonment of two to five years.(article from which ferrate was convicted)
<(B) On sexual crimes with minors (“pederastia”) — Código Penal (Ley No. 62, 1987), Art. 299 (Spanish).>“ARTÍCULO 299. 1. El que cometa actos de pederastia activa empleando violencia o intimidación, o aprovechando que la víctima esté privada de razón o de sentido o incapacitada para resistir, es sancionado con privación de libertad de siete a quince años. 2. La sanción es de privación de libertad de ocho a veinte años o muerte: a) si la víctima es un menor de 14 años de edad.>“ARTICLE 299. 1. Anyone who commits acts of active pedophilia using violence or intimidation, or taking advantage of the victim being unconscious, incapacitated, or unable to resist, shall be punished with imprisonment of seven to fifteen years. 2. The penalty shall be imprisonment of eight to twenty years or death: a) if the victim is under 14 years of age.” >>2642430you prefer to blindly trust swiss governments.
right?
>>2642434No, that's Maduro, that's why he sent the gold there.
>>2642439And you should probably commit seppuku.
>>2642441Ok, Now prove he was actually corrupting minors.
>>2642442A court already did that.
2nd update (corrected) of
the goalposts moved from:
>Maduro is corrupt, here! the undeniable evidence came from the switzerland!
jumped to
>it's ok, all executive branches have tools to froze banking accounts they dim of illegal origin, even if they don't need to present evidence, move the cases to courts, for a decade or more!
to
>they don't need ever to present evidence if it was of illegal origin or not, Sovereign or individual accounts even after they release it! it's ok, guys! the swiss have all the interests to make sure their banking laws are abided!
to
>the fucking Maduro and Venezuelans fucking deserved for existing in the imperialist world (derived from the bretton woods accords, where the US is basically the sole owner of the financial world). fucking Maburro (wordplay calling him dumb), dumb bitch, fucking I hope he dies.
to
>PHHHEW the corruption is proven because Venezuela did business with the west!
On Cuba
Goalposts moved from
>NOOOO YOU CAN'T DEFEND A PEDO COUNTRY, no anti-imperialism movement for Cubans! Here's my undeniable evidence. they jailed a journalist exposing pedo crimes.
to
>NOOOOOO the Spanish g-guardia c-civil journalist wasn't pedophilic, it was fabricated charges that the pedo nation named Cuba brought against him.
to
<NNOOOOOO CORRUPTING MINORS UNDER THE CUBAN LAW IS VERY DISCTINCT TO PEDOPHILIAAAAA!!!
100% normal person.
>>2642444Are you stupid? Maduro did send gold to Switzerland before like 2017. As for the assets that were frozen, there is no evidence those assets are the same as the gold sent before ~2017
If you have any evidence that shows the assets frozen belong to the Venezuelan state and not Maduro and the other 36 people involved in the asset freezing, post it
You won't.
>>2642458Batista-era pig turned pedophile businessman no less
>>2642459better believe to the swiss accusations than the Cuban accusations, am I right? soon swiss socialism!
>>2642461>muh foreign journalistAgain with the fixation on journalists
>>2642467Neither is “muh journalists”.
>>2642469You already got punished for namecalling and witch-hunting.
>>2642471you can be 100% sure than believing the swiss government is not an argument either.
>>2642472My argument doesn't boil down to that, sorry, try again.
>>2642476It does and the fact you can never expand it tells me so.
>>2642474I agree that we should not believe in the government, that's why I want to the see court hearing that supposedly proves Ferrate corrupted minors.
>>2642458he has been at it for days, I kinda admire his commitment to dickriding NATO at all costs
>>2642476it does. 'muh arrested, guardia civil española, Spanish civil guard, "journalist" for exposing crimes'.
>>2642480you prefer to believe to a guy that is self presented as a nato cop. you might as-well present me nazi accounts on the 'crimes' committed by the USSR, the holodohoax, etc. as an undeniable evidence of crimes done by socialist governments. where does that end, huh? WHERE?
>>2642485I have replied to all your arguments so far however, Here, let's try again.
If you have evidence that assets frozen in January this year, and the gold sent by Venezuela in the 10's are the same, post it
If you have evidence that the Cuban government had tangible proof that Ferrate abused minors, post it.
I'll wait.
>>2642488You are not making any sense, go for a walk.
>>2642482He could be obsessed o algo
>>2642482right back ya.
don't forget to touch grass while you are it.
Anon I think you quoted the wrong post, this is like the second time in 30 minutes you have fucked it up.
Calm down.
>>2642502oh, don't mind me, I am working out while I answer. I continously make mistakes writing, posting or replying because I multi-task, either designing, working out or cleaning.
trust me, I don't let people to live in my head. you aren't the first anon who is retarded that has come along in leftypol/bunkerchan since 2017, the era I came from.
but hey, you do you believing in such a thing.
>>2642379he never posted evidence, a proper timestamp.
>>2642502which anon quoted a wrong post? you didn't quote anything at all.
I wanted to share this specific article from one economist that is on the moderate wing of the opposition parties. related to
Henri Falcon, who was US sanctioned because he 'legitimized' the electoral process of 2018.
the radical fascist opposition, that wants Venezuela leveled from the ground, always accused the government of corruption, usually without presenting evidence, and making the assessment that corruption destroyed Venezuela's economy.
before Maduro was kidnaped, Venezuela had had 18 quarters of economic growth, with data certified by the CEPAL (UN agency for Latin America).
but before that, the contraction was strong.
so, beyond showing comparative data of sanctions, with plausible weak correlation/causation,
Francisco Rodriguez, the economist I was talking about, ran an article comparing Latin American countries' corruption with Venezuela's corruption, set up some markers to do so, and established that all the countries are relatively close in corruption.
he then sets up different markers of predictivity that tests corruption v sanctions. he proceeds to test the scenarios. in both scenarios, only sanctions explain the behavior of the economy in the tested scenarios.
though it might be obvious, it's worth noting, because fascists across the continent like to spread the notion that it was corruption.
https://franciscorodriguez.net/2020/01/11/sanctions-and-the-venezuelan-economy-what-the-data-sayhttps://sanctionsandsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/January-2022-Venezuela-Case_Rodriguez.pdf>We have attempted to address the methodological concerns raised by other authors in this debate. In particular, we have shown that the identification of a negative effect associated with sanctions in the post-2017 data is not dependent on the use of Colombia as a control, as claimed by HMB, but is instead robust to the choice of counterfactual. We applied synthetic control methods to produce an adequate control group, estimating a large negative post-treatment effect. We also used cross-national data to estimate the effect of oil sanctions such as those imposed on Venezuela earlier this year. And we have shown that the alternative militarization hypothesis has problems accounting for variations in the time-series data: even using the most generous specification to this hypothesis, we find that it can explain at most one-seventh of the decline in output that the 2017 sanctions account for. In contrast to the militarization, corruption or investment hypotheses, which must be modified in ad hoc ways to fit the data, the sanctions hypothesis yields additional predictions – that production should have stabilized or grown in Chinese and Russian joint ventures, or that it would not have been affected in sanctionsexempt subsidiaries – which are confirmed by the evidence.one simple argument to counter this, if you don't want to engage with fascists but still reply them, is: if socialism brought so much corruption, and was about to fail by its own merits, why does it need to be sanctioned? let it fail on its own.
now, they tried to move the discourse that sanctions never existed.
bessent saying they will remove sanctions on Venezuela is now a nice way to slap them in the face. they lose all arguments.
>>2642518what is this in response to good sir
>>2642562The five posts above it
Trump to meet with Venezuela’s Machado on Thursday
The Venezuelan opposition leader has said she plans to share her Nobel Prize with Trump
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/12/trump-meet-venezuela-machado-thursday-00722316>>2642569Imagine being this openly servile and cucked. Being a Latam rightoid is just one long humiliation ritual.
>>2642572They sell out the collective for personal gain. Comprador bourgeoisie sycophants all hope to get a no-show job or a book deal or a TED talk or stock options or some shit like that. It's just standard psychopathic social climber crab bucket mentality. They see no incentive to be economic nationalists, let alone communist, because that path requires fighting people stronger than them and potentially dying, rather than sucking up to them, and getting bones tossed which is a lot easier.
>>2642572>Being a Latam rightoid is just one long humiliation ritual.No it's not. You have to understand these "people" have the mentality of a pimp, only they use the state to beat their counteymen into submission so they can prostitute them for resources and labor.
They arent human and it is very frustrating as a latin american that leftists do not see this here. People around here laugh at right wingers as if they have a colonial self hatred when it's right wingers that get the last laugh because they have an entirely different mindset and means of gaining wealth. (bloodshedding and extraction).
>>2642549Of course the sanctions are ridiculous, there's no need to punish a country's people seemingly principally because it hasn't delivered sufficient economic development, or more likely because it's a left-wing government, and any other reason would just be hypocrisy given other US trading partners.
Corruption is not low, according to the Global Correuption Barometer [^1], which gives a better picture than the "expert opinion" based CPI, but there is still for example the developed country of Taiwan and the rapidly developing country of Vietnam with worse scores, and countries which don't get as much attention for their corruption like Bolivia (overall a pretty good admin). There are also a number of countries in the region and in all probability higher levels of development that have roughly equivalent corruption such as: Mexico, Columbia, and Paraguay.
According to the Pandora Papers they've got less off shores the international average which would imply that the funds are being kept by individuals. I think part of this might be that corruption is relatively isolated at the commanding heights, with the bureaucracy operating more or less on par for the region and level of development. I've read today of a couple cases of charges in Europe of corrupt actors valuated at over a billion dollars. I still wonder if the hundreds of billions of dollar figure might just be pulled out of someones ass.
:[^1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Corruption_Barometer THE JOURNALIST the 'he-left-com' was defending:
>"Operación Tacos": A 2005-2006 operation led by Spanish judge Fernando Andreu, targeting a network that laundered money from cocaine sales in Spain for the Sinaloa cartel.Involving, Pique Vidal, sentenced in 2015 to 9 years:
https://web.archive.org/web/20180127143244/http://www.eltriangle.eu/es/notices/2015/03/pique-vidal-y-la-coca-3496.phphttps://www.eltriangle.eu/es/2015/03/20/noticia-es-40528/>Multiple sources identify Ferraté as a key collaborator and "testaferro" (front man) for lawyer Joan Piqué Vidal. His role was to help control the network of shell companies used to launder the drug money:<To do this, a group of companies established in Barcelona were used, controlled by frontmen and collaborators of the lawyer, among whom Felipe Gutiérrez Moreno and Sebastián Martínez Ferraté, former captain of the Guardia Civil, stood out.arrested in 2006, on 1 year sentence for co-conspiring with drug trafficking.
he was not only a Spanish civil guard.
he was a
CAPTAIN of the Spanish civil guard.
this is the people that leftcom brings in to talk about pedophilia in Cuba, this is the propaganda he brings in ITT.
would you look at that. he gives this person face of value.
>>2642587>They arent humani can't stand when you retards do this lol. they are human. they bleed. stripping them of their human card doesn't matter because humans are dumb animals, not god's special little spooks.
>>2642587Of course I understand that they do it for personal gain, but in the case of Latin Americans they always seem the most open and blatant about their servility and self-loathing. At least in the case of Eastern Europeans or East Asians they can semi-convincingly argue that alignment with the West is protecting their country from le evil Chinese or Russian oppression. Meanwhile Latin America has only ever had one colonial overlord and oppressor in the last 200 years, and these cretins compete to see who can be the most vocal in kowtowing to the Yankee imperialists.
>>2642595 (me)
more
if you check in x, you can see a bot campaign positively, and widely defending Martinez Ferrate multiple times, 2012, 2011, 2010, etc. as if he were tortured, and defending his acts.
same bots attacking communism in general. first picrel, the bot campaign. second picrel, one of the accounts there, talking about communism.
oh well, last time I talk about this right-wing (captain of the Spanish civil guard, with its francois past, and present) 'journalist' (thin naming).
one question, polling: will leftcom guy
a) take two down, conceding and apologizing
b) double down, be snarky and dismiss the evidence presented,
with court documents (that he argued that it was necessary for the Cuban government when locking him the civil guard captain) and keep on check his anti-imperialist attitude with another moved goalpost
c) shut up forever and never reply back
take your bets and guesses.
>>2642611I said that as an off remark because one day we will get our chance to kill them and rape their wives un front if them. Obviously they bleed. That's what we want.
>>2642612oppression always seems to produce the house slave/field slave response. the field slaves say you have to resist and the house slaves say no that can't work and will just make everything worse, you have to try to please master even harder so he will like you and share his good fortune. there is a logic to both responses, and that is why the eternal gusano exists wherever imperialism does.
>>2642612Nah go fuck yourself. You cant paint over 700 million people as servile while ignoring the the class dynamics, how the upper class act as foreign parasites, or that the region has had countless back and forth struggles ending in dictatorships killing people for foreign capital.
>>2642623>I want to reverse the vector of oppression, not end it altogether, I MVST RAPE<moments after calling others not humanwho could have seen this one coming
inb4 no excuses for the terror blah blah blah, yeah there's understanding that you need to break a few eggs to make an omelet and then there's the LARP of licking your lips and fantasizing about future rapes >>2642624house slave field slave is just nietzsche's master/slave morality, but applied to slaves themselves. some slaves develop "master" morality and want to overthrow the slave owners, while other slaves keep "slave morality" and cower in fear and try to please their oppressors. Similarly, most masters have "master" morality but others develop a sort of "slave" morality where they try to soften their own image as oppressors by being nicer than the average oppressor.
>>2642595>>2642617Ok but how does any of that proves that
1.- he actually corrupted minors
2.- his documentary is false
I don't give two shits about him, I care what he reported on his documentary and I want evidence that his documentary is fake. Literally zero difference between you and poltards trying to find out if someone has jewish ancestry.
>>2642667so true bestie. down with the cuban govt. i'm sure less molestation will happen with a US puppet in power.
>>2642667>I don't give two shits about himyou give a shit to what he says. do you understand that's giving shit about him?
hey, another goalpost moved.
>>2642671Not an argument.
>>2642680No anon, you are just stupid.
Ferrate isn't the only person that has been detained by the Cuban government for releasing a journalist report that the government finds problematic. That's the point here.
imagine believing a narco has some validity on what he has to say to any socialist proletarian state, captain of the known francois civil guard.
as I said above, in the future, he will present evidence of nazis about how bad was the USSR, how bad was any other Eastern Europe country.
reactionary levels beyond stupid.
>>2642688Ok but how does any of that proves that
1.- he actually corrupted minors
2.- his documentary is false
>Ferrate isn't the only person that has been detained by the Cuban government
goalpost moved: 1 step further.
3rd update of
the goalposts moved from:
>Maduro is corrupt, here! the undeniable evidence came from the switzerland!
jumped to
>it's ok, all executive branches have tools to froze banking accounts they dim of illegal origin, even if they don't need to present evidence, move the cases to courts, for a decade or more!
to
>they don't need ever to present evidence if it was of illegal origin or not, Sovereign or individual accounts even after they release it! it's ok, guys! the swiss have all the interests to make sure their banking laws are abided!
to
>the fucking Maduro and Venezuelans fucking deserved for existing in the imperialist world (derived from the bretton woods accords, where the US is basically the sole owner of the financial world). fucking Maburro (wordplay calling him dumb), dumb bitch, fucking I hope he dies.
to
>PHHHEW the corruption is proven because Venezuela did business with the west!
On Cuba
Goalposts moved from
>NOOOO YOU CAN'T DEFEND A PEDO COUNTRY, no anti-imperialism movement for Cubans! Here's my undeniable evidence. they jailed a journalist exposing pedo crimes.
to
>NOOOOOO the Spanish g-guardia c-civil journalist wasn't pedophilic, it was fabricated charges that the pedo nation named Cuba brought against him.
to
>NNOOOOOO CORRUPTING MINORS UNDER THE CUBAN LAW IS VERY DISCTINCT TO PEDOPHILIAAAAA!!!
to
>NOOOOO I don't care abput the source! I don't care he's a captain of the known fascist institution named Spanish civil guard! I just care about what he has to saaaay
<NOOOOOO FERRATE ISN'T THE ONLY ONEEEEE, other thousands of anticommunist true journalists are always reporting that Cuba is hell on eaaaaarth.
how many steps will it take until he gets again to: fucking Cubans, fucking hate them for existing in capitalism, how dare to grow an island next to the US, get sanctioned and get socialism, fucking bitches, I hate they die.
100% normal person.
>>2642695 (me)
I had to add I don't care he's a captain of the known fascist institution named Spanish civil guard
AND a drug trafficker front man.
>>2642622At the very least an Eastern European can claim that their countries were satellites of the USSR and under its geopolitical domination, so membership in the Western sphere is "liberation". Debunking the myth of "Soviet imperialism" requires an understanding of what imperialism is and how economic relations within the Warsaw Pact differed from it. This is information that the average person isn't aware of. Meanwhile Latin America has always been very clearly and obviously subjugated and exploited by the US and the US alone, so there can by absolutely no argument for continued subordination to America without the most despicable kind of servility and self hatred.
You faggots are really still here bickering?
>>2642827well man, there's a reason why there are 15 pages of leftcom memes in the booru.
and most of them very well designed to point out their infantilism.
>>2643131Just reading through the wiki on this guy as a quick overview and it seems he’s done this before.
> Edward Snowden subsequently made clear that Fein did not represent him, explaining that certain comments about his relationship with Glenn Greenwald were misattributed as his own, rather than properly attributed to either Fein or Snowden's father.[25]And also:
>He has worked for the American Enterprise Institute and The Heritage Foundation, both conservative think tanks, as an analyst and commentator.[1]Kind of sussy.
>>2643118bordiga makes me sad because I think he was actually a pretty intelligent guy but his stalin derangement syndrome got the best of him
something similar could be said about trotsky
I wonder how much sectarian autism could have been prevented if Lenin lived just 10 more years
>>2643467Tbf, if I had lived through the mess that Stalin did to the Comitern and the mess in Spain, Greece and Palestine, I would have had Stalin Derrangement Syndrome too.
>>2643131>Fein is the brother of Dan Fein, a prominent figure in the Socialist Workers Party<During the 2020s, the Socialist Workers Party has expressed strong support for Israel, Zionism and has denied the existence of the Gaza genocide.least glowified trotsky party
>Exclusive: Venezuela begins reversing oil output cuts as exports resume, sources sayJan 13 (Reuters) - Venezuela's state energy company PDVSA has begun reversing oil production cuts made under a strict U.S. oil embargo as crude exports resume under U.S. supervision, three sources close to operations said on Tuesday.
The OPEC member's oil exports fell close to zero in the weeks after the United States imposed a blockade on oil shipments in December, with only U.S. oil major Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab exporting crude from its joint ventures with PDVSA under U.S. license.
The embargo left millions of barrels stuck in onshore tanks and vessels. As storage filled, PDVSA was forced to shut wells and order oil production cuts at joint ventures in the country.
The state company is now instructing the joint ventures to resume output from well clusters that were shut as a third oil tanker set sail from Venezuela's coast on Tuesday.
The mood at many of PDVSA's offices and operational sites has rapidly changed since the company said it was progressing in negotiations with the U.S. that are expected to bring much-needed investment into oilfields and facilities, the sources said.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/venezuela-begins-reopening-wells-recover-crude-output-sources-say-2026-01-13/Update important
Exclusive: US files for warrants to seize dozens more Venezuela-linked oil tankers, sources say
LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. government has filed for court warrants to seize dozens more tankers linked to the Venezuelan oil trade, four sources familiar with the matter said, as Washington consolidates control of oil shipments in and out of the South American country.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-files-warrants-seize-dozens-more-venezuela-linked-oil-tankers-sources-say-2026-01-13/Update
>>2642622This is the exact same argument the British Empire used bruh.
>Clock ticks in Cuba as Trump cuts off Venezuelan oilHAVANA/HOUSTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Cubans are bracing for impact after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to cut off a lifeline of Venezuelan oil from reaching Cuba, setting up a siege scenario for an island already reeling from crippling blackouts and shortages.
Venezuela, once the island’s top supplier, has not sent crude or fuel to Cuba for about a month, according to shipping data and internal documents from state company PDVSA, with cargoes falling off due to a U.S. blockade even before the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in early January.
The last cargo for refining on the island was sent from PDVSA’s Jose port in mid-December onboard a tanker that sailed with its transponder off, carrying some 600,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude.
In 2025, Venezuela was Cuba’s largest oil supplier with 26,500 barrels per day (bpd), or roughly one third of the island’s daily needs, followed by Mexico with some 5,000 bpd, the data and documents showed.
“I just don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel for Cuba to survive the next few months facing zero deliveries of oil from Venezuela,” said Jorge Pinon, an energy researcher at the University of Texas at Austin.
“The situation is going to be catastrophic.”
Trump has made no secret of his expectation that the recent U.S. intervention in Venezuela could push Cuba over the edge, but in recent days he has doubled down on the communist-run island, pushing the neighboring nation on Sunday to strike a deal “before it is too late.”
The question of how long Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and the country’s communist-run government can hold out in the face of vastly reduced oil imports is now top of mind for the island’s struggling residents, who already face daunting hurdles to find food, medicine and fuel.
“It’s very stressful because we don’t know what decision the Cuban government will make or what actions the United States government will take,” said 75-year-old former state worker Victor Romero, of Havana.
Diaz-Canel has made clear his government will stand firm against U.S. threats.
“Nobody tells us what to do,” he said Sunday after Trump vowed to shut off Venezuelan oil. “Cuba is…prepared to defend the homeland until the last drop of blood.”
Much of rural Cuba, in far-flung provinces with little economic output, already resembles a caricature of 19th-century life.
Horse-drawn carriages and bicycles provide transportation in many villages and even in urban areas. The internet falters often, if it works at all, and electricity is fleeting, with more hours without power than with it.
Deyanira Gonzalez, a 57-year-old housewife who lives in Havana’s countryside, already prepares her morning coffee and her children’s lunch over charcoal, she says, with electricity spotty and liquefied gas largely unavailable or too expensive.
“What will happen now? If Donald Trump doesn’t let fuel into Cuba we’ll be in the dark with our kids suffering,” she said.
Cuba’s capital Havana has not yet felt the impacts of the plummeting Venezuelan fuel cargoes, observations backed by Cuba’s daily generation deficit tallies.
Many city residents report that blackouts have subsided somewhat in early January amid decreased power demand since a peak in December, and gasoline and diesel service at the pump, while rationed in the peso currency, continues unabated.
FEW OPTIONS
There is no public information about how much oil Cuba may be holding in reserve. It is also unclear whether Cuba’s political allies would be willing to risk Trump’s ire to help bail out Cuba.
“We have not seen any support whatsoever from Cuba’s political allies, who are also exporters of oil, like Angola, Algeria, Brazil,” said energy expert Pinon.
“No one is coming to Cuba’s aid, with the exception of maybe Mexico, in limited amount, and also Russia, in limited amount.”
A tanker bound from Mexico, the Ocean Mariner, arrived in Havana on Friday, carrying some 85,000 barrels of fuel from the state company Pemex’s terminal of Pajaritos/Coatzacoalcos, according to a Reuters witness and ship tracking data.
But Mexico’s contribution, albeit a fraction of Venezuela’s former exports, is far from enough to keep the lights on across the island of around 10 million inhabitants, a concern not lost on many Cubans.
“It’s the uncertainty of not knowing what’s going to happen,” said Ivet Rodriguez, a 39-year-old entrepreneur in Havana. “I try not to even think about it.”
(Reporting by Dave Sherwood in Havana and Marianna Párraga in Houston, additional reporting by Mario Fuentes and Anett Rios; Editing by Christian Plumb and Alistair Bell)
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/clock-ticks-cuba-trump-cuts-off-venezuelan-oil-2026-01-13/ >>2644317Could China do something about this or does the geography make it unfeasible?
>>2642373What is crazier is that the mods fucking love the guy he could spam CP and the mods wouldnt delete it, its insane
>>2644321Please still have the nerve to ask what China will do when they make it clear they are only interested in selling their trinkets and wares to the globe.
Venezuela’s acting president plans to send an envoy to Washington to meet with senior US officials on the same day that opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will be in town for her own talks in the wake of Nicolas Maduro’s ouster.
Ambassador Felix Plasencia, the chief of mission at Venezuela’s embassy in the UK and a former foreign minister, plans to visit Thursday at acting President Delcy Rodriguez’s behest, according to people familiar with the plans. They asked not toVenezuela’s acting president plans to send an envoy to Washington to meet with senior US officials on the same day that opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will be in town for her own talks in the wake of Nicolas Maduro’s ouster.
Ambassador Felix Plasencia, the chief of mission at Venezuela’s embassy in the UK and a former foreign minister, plans to visit Thursday at acting President Delcy Rodriguez’s behest, according to people familiar with the plans.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-13/venezuela-to-send-envoy-for-us-talks-on-same-day-machado-visitsUpdate.
The interim Venezuelan government has freed at least four Americans who were imprisoned in Venezuela, a source familiar with the matter told CNN on Tuesday.
It marks the first known release of American detainees since the ouster of Nicolás Maduro and comes as the interim Venezuelan government, led by Delcy Rodríguez, has begun freeing dozens of political prisoners.
CNN previously reported that at least five Americans had been detained in Venezuela in recent months. The Maduro government had a long history of detaining Americans to be used for political leverage with the US government.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/13/politics/venezuela-frees-americans-detainedUpdate
>>2644418What were they actually imprisoned for?
>>2644712Maduro wasn't that important. Great men theorylets are in shambles
>>2644712more happenings. Iran, protests inside the US, Greenland.
it feels like one year has passed since Jan 1. and we are just halfway through the first month.
>>2644712there's too many happenings happening at once to juggle in the mind simultaneously. This is why and how history is written by the victors. The very act of taking this giant soup of events and building a coherent narrative out of it is something only the ruling class of a given society has the leisure time, willpower, and incentive to do.
Reporter: The de facto number 2 in Venezuela seemed very reluctant to work with U.S.
Trump: They just gave us 50 million barrels of oil. I know the number 1, she is a terrific person.
Trump on Delcy Rodriguez: She’s a terrific person
Trump is selling seized Venezuelan oil and putting the cash in a bank account in Qatar.
https://www.semafor.com/article/01/14/2026/us-gets-first-500-million-venezuelan-oil-deal-holding-some-proceeds-in-qatarUpdate
>>2645993But, uhh, what da Venezuela doin?
>>2646404Lenin can suck my fat little nuts
>>2646820Delcy is literally sending a representative to the US tomorrow
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/world/americas/venezuela-diplomat-us-visit-washington.htmlVenezuelan Envoy to Make First Washington Trip in Years Amid Thaw
Félix Plasencia, an envoy of the interim government, will travel to the United States on the day the opposition leader María Corina Machado is to meet President Trump.
>>2646823>Delcy is literally sending a representative to the US tomorrow damn, literally wow fr
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote Thursday on social media, “Motor Tanker Veronica had previously passed through Venezuelan waters, and was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”
A social media post from U.S. Southern Command on the capture said that Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to make the capture while Noem’s post noted that, like in previous raids, a U.S. Coast Guard tactical team conducted the boarding and seizure.
https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-sanctioned-oil-tanker-seized-a415e247fca429b00b9fbcf6b6cd90a5Update
>>2646520continuing governance as much as they can. I guess there's nothing more. prepare a nuke to bomb WDC?
>>2647790The US will continue piracy until somebody blows up an aircraft carrier which nobody is capable of.
Cuba presented their honors to the soldiers killed in January 3. Even with rain. large number of people.
Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodrguez on Thursday asked lawmakers to approve reforms to the oil industry that would open the doors to greater foreign investment during her first state of the union speech less than two weeks after its longtime leader was toppled by the United States.
She outlined a distinct vision for the future, straying from her predecessors, who have long railed against American intervention in Venezeula. “Let us not be afraid of diplomacy” with the US, said Rodriguez, the former vice president who must now navigate competing pressures from the Trump administration and a government loyal to former President Nicols Maduro.
The speech, which was broadcast on a delay in Venezuela, came one day after Rodrguez said her government would continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro in what she described as “a new political moment” since his ouster.
"Let us not be afraid of diplomacy" with the U.S., said Rodriguez, who must now navigate competing pressures from the Trump administration and a government loyal to former President Nicolas Maduro
On Thursday, Rodriguez said money earned from foreign oil sales would go into two funds: one dedicated to social services for workers and the public health care system, and another to economic development and infrastructure projects.
https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/01/15/venezuela-s-rodriguez-proposes-oil-reform-to-facilitate-investmentUpdate
Venezuelan president proposes change to energy laws to allow greater US involvement
Interim leader Delcy Rodriguez has told the country’s national assembly that she is putting forward reforms to open up the country’s oil market to outside investors, a key demand of the Trump administration.
Rodriguez said the reforms would “allow these investment flows to be incorporated into new fields, fields where no investment has ever been made and into fields where there is no infrastructure”
>Caracas CODEL: Senators are eager to visit VenezuelaSenators left a meeting Thursday with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado with plans to visit her country — but differing views on when she should return herself.
Why it matters: President Trump's forceful removal of Nicolas Maduro continues to split the Senate.
The big picture: More than a dozen senators packed into the meeting and praised Machado's courage. But they disagreed over how Venezuela should transition to democracy — and when it would be safe for her to go home.
What they're saying: "That lady's got guts, right?" Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told Axios. "I think she needs to be in the country. I think she needs to rally the Venezuelans."
"She did indicate that she wants to go back as soon as possible — which I advised, in Spanish, is not a good idea," said Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.)."I just think it's dangerous," Gallego added.
"We would rather have respected leaders of the opposition take their time to go back and be safe."
Driving the news: Machado met earlier in the day with Trump and said afterward on Fox News that she gifted him her non-transferable Nobel Peace Prize.
"She didn't mention that, and neither did anybody else," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said.
What we're watching: Senators are already discussing a potential CODEL to Caracas.
"I discussed maybe senators going down to visit to show support for the opposition," Gallego said. "I'll do the interpretation."
Scott is also on board. "I think it's important to go, but we've got to make sure it's safe.
"The bottom line: Democrats and Republicans are united in celebrating Machado — but not in embracing the Trump administration's approach.
"A large group of Democrats were fawning on Machado," Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) said. "Yesterday, they were trying to say that what President Trump did was wrong."
https://www.axios.com/2026/01/16/venezuela-machado-senate-codelUpdate
LOL
ANOTHER L TO HOLD!
>>2648749He deserves it more than a literally who gusano, to be honest
>>2644712great, we can move past maduro and great manism, no reason to keep bringing up maduro and avoiding the primary and secondary contradictions, glad it's over, chavismo still controls the country and the bolivarian revolution is still in a degeneration spiral, something's got to give
>>2646756Unironically 4d chess, her family was tortured by the us no way she'd cuck her people like this.
related
>The United States is intensifying pressure on Mexico to allow U.S. military forces to conduct joint operations to dismantle fentanyl labs inside the country, according to American officials.
>The proposal was first raised early last year and then largely dropped, officials said. But the request was renewed after U.S. forces captured President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela on Jan. 3 and has involved the highest levels of government, including the White House, according to multiple officials.
>Instead of joint operations, Mexican officials offered counter proposals this month, including increased information sharing and for the United States to play a greater role inside command centers, according to a person familiar with the matter. U.S. advisers are already in Mexican military command posts, according to American officials, sharing intelligence to help Mexican forces in their antidrug operations.
>Under the Biden administration, the C.I.A. began carrying out secret drone flights over Mexico to identify possible locations of fentanyl labs, an operation that has expanded since Mr. Trump took office.
>That intelligence is currently handed off to Mexican military units, many of which have been trained by American Special Operation forces. Mexican troops then plan and execute the raids to take out the labs.
>Under Washington’s new proposal, American forces would participate in the raids with Mexican forces in the lead, commanding the mission and making key decisions, according to people familiar with the talks, including American officials. But U.S. forces would be in support, providing intelligence and advice to frontline Mexican troops.
>Mr. Harfuch said that fewer than several hundred U.S. security personnel are in Mexico, and that all are unarmed and all are approved by Mexican officials.https://archive.ph/kNnn7venezuelan oil and sovereignity status: in us custody
war status: over before it began
>>2641079Can't argue with that, honestly.
NUKES 2 VUVU >NEW YORK – Central Intelligence Agency director John Ratcliffe met with Venezuela’s interim leader in Caracas to discuss cooperation, a US official said on Jan 16, in the most senior known visit by a US official since the US toppled President Nicolas Maduro in January.Mr Ratcliffe met on Jan 15 with Ms Delcy Rodriguez at the direction of President Donald Trump, “to deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship,” the official said.
They discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and the need to ensure that Venezuela was no longer a “safe haven for America's adversaries, especially narco-traffickers”.
The visit took place the same day that Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gave her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Mr Trump at the White House.
Since sending troops to seize Maduro, Washington has held back from saying the opposition should take power, despite having previously said Machado’s ally rightfully won an election in 2024.
Ms Rodriguez, who served as vice president under Maduro, took over the presidency on an interim basis after the US military seized Maduro and flew him to the United States to stand trial for drug charges.
Washington has said she is favourable as an interim leader to preserve stability.
The US official said the two-hour meeting with Mr Ratcliffe was focused on building trust between the US and Venezuela.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/cia-director-ratcliffe-meets-with-venezuelas-rodriguez-in-caracas-nyt-reportsCia chief met with delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela
>>2649366so many cuties, holy shet
So you're telling me the Venezuelan govt agreed with the Trump admin to sacrifice 100 lives and hand over Maduro temporarily for some choreographed theatrics before they could have a trade deal? And because most Chavistas can't read English, they won't know the truth and will continue believing their state media?
>With Maduro in U.S. custody, his lieutenants warm to Trump
CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with interim Venezuelan president Delcy Rodríguez on Thursday in Caracas, a U.S. official said.
Two countries with leaders of sharply different ideologies are moving toward the creation of a neo-colony here in South America, with Washington holding the purse strings (and all the cards). The Venezuelans, whether motivated by the threat of more U.S. force or an assessment that a diplomatic reset with their longtime nemesis to the north is now the best — if not only — course, are moving quickly to reestablish formal ties while working on legislation that could grease American investment in the key oil sector.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with interim president Delcy Rodríguez in Caracas on Thursday “to deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship,” a U.S. official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the CIA director’s travels, which are not ordinarily made public.
Ratcliffe is the most senior U.S. official to visit Venezuela since U.S. Special Forces captured Maduro and his wife on Jan. 3. While he was in Venezuela, President Donald Trump was meeting at the White House with opposition leader María Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace laureate. Trump has indicated he does not believe Machado and her pro-democracy movement are capable of running Venezuela.
During the two-hour meeting, the U.S. official said, “Director Ratcliffe discussed potential opportunities for economic collaboration and that Venezuela can no longer be a safe haven for America’s adversaries, especially narco traffickers.”
Trump, who until Maduro’s capture condemned his authoritarian regime, hailed Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president and now Venezuela’s interim leader, as a “terrific woman” after they spoke Wednesday. Cast aside has been Machado — a “nice woman,” Trump said this month, but who “lacks support” and is “not respected.”
Machado, who previously called for the criminal prosecution of the people with whom Trump’s administration is now working, presented him with her Nobel medal during their private meeting Thursday. Meanwhile, a senior Rodríguez emissary — Félix Plasencia, Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Kingdom — was visiting Washington for high-level talks.
Rodríguez, using language that would have been shocking before Maduro’s capture, called this week for a new political era. Her government’s release of some political prisoners, she said, should make clear that Venezuela aims to “allow understanding” and embraces a “political and ideological diversity.” She was seeking energy cooperation with the U.S., she said Thursday, “based on decency, dignity and independence.”
A second former U.S. official said the regime’s release in recent days of American detainees and some political prisoners “is a sign that there isn’t a lot of leveraging going on.”
“Those are two things that traditionally in the past would’ve been a part of a very intense quid pro quo negotiation,” the former official said. “The fact that these things might be happening without that kind of quid pro quo signals to me that the regime is pretty shell-shocked by what happened.”
The Trump administration this week brokered its first sale of Venezuelan oil for about $500 million, which was deposited into a trust in Qatar, according to people in Venezuela’s oil industry. Officials appear to be laying plans to funnel that money indirectly toward the Venezuelan economy, according to Venezuelan economists and business leaders familiar with the discussions.
Three hundred million dollars is expected to be sold to the four largest private banks in Venezuela, economic analyst Alejandro Grisanti said. The banks would then auction off the foreign currency and direct the proceeds to the economy, prioritizing food and medical sectors. The Central Bank of Venezuela will receive the bolivars generated by these auctions and may use them only to pay salaries and employee benefits.
“It is a fundamental measure for maintaining economic stability in Venezuela,” Grisanti said. “It proves that there is good coordination between the United States and Venezuela to take swift action.”
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the U.S. would control the sale of “all of their oil and natural gas.” The proceeds will be directed first to U.S.-controlled accounts at globally recognized banks, an administration official said, to guarantee the legitimacy and integrity of their distribution.
Talks are underway in Venezuela about allowing the dollar to flow freely in the economy, one business leader here said. Rodríguez, as vice president, supported the idea internally, the person said; others in the regime argued it “would mean putting ourselves in the hands of the U.S.”
The U.S. blockade of Venezuelan oil meant that crude filled tankers and storage facilities, leaving little room for more. The regime is now looking to oil traders authorized by the Trump administration to move the undelivered crude urgently. If the glut forces the shutdown of oil fields, they will be costly to restart.
The new setup could be a boon for a sector that has struggled in the vise of U.S. sanctions and Trump’s blockade.
“They are avoiding a certain sort of collapse of the economy in exchange for something that is uncertain,” he said, but has upsides in that oil proceeds of sales will no longer be black money that needs to be laundered or hidden.
U.S. sanctions have prevented U.S. companies from doing business here without special licenses. The regime now wants the administration to approve more licenses, to get cash flowing in the economy and show that the shift toward the United States has a payoff.
Some oil revenue could be used to fund government contracts for U.S. companies to rebuild Venezuela’s blackout-plagued electricity grid, according to two people familiar with the talks. Rodríguez officials are also discussing U.S. investment in other sectors, including mining, they said.
Internally, the regime is discussing laws that could reduce curbs on foreign investment and offer new legal rights and protections to encourage reluctant American firms.
That’s a radical departure from Chávez, who, after his reelection in 2006, declared the United States “the biggest menace to our planet.”
Maduro, who took control of the regime on Chávez’s death in 2013, called repeatedly for better relations. But having claimed reelection in three elections viewed as fraudulent — a Washington Post review of tally sheets from the 2024 contest showed that Machado’s candidate is likely to have won more than two-thirds of the vote — he was seen by the administration as too toxic.
Former Chavista lawmaker Maria Alejandra Díaz, a constitutional lawyer, said the new relationship, and the possibility that the administration will try to impose it elsewhere in Latin America, is both surprising and worrying. “We don’t know if it’s out of fear or because it was already part of a plan,” she said.
If there’s one thing Chávez ensured, she said, “it was the independent and sovereign management of our resources. … He would be turning over in his grave.”
- WASHINGTON POST
Update
>>2649748You guys are coping so hard about how delcy sold out to the usa. She even held meetings for over half a year with usa officials with her brother planning the change without maduro. Hugo Chávez also hated her.
>From February to August 2006, Rodríguez was the Minister for Presidential Affairs.[29] Her tenure was short-lived due to reported tensions with president Hugo Chávez.[29][30] She reportedly refused to show the "personal homage" expected by the president.[29] According to profiles published in Tal Cual and El Estímulo [es], Rodríguez disregarded established hierarchies and maintained a direct attitude that alienated her from the presidential inner circle.[29][1] Travelling to an official visit to Moscow in 2006, it was reported that Rodríguez engaged in a heated argument with Chávez and swore at him;[1] Chávez dismissed her, and she had to return immediately to Venezuela.[1] In 2007, Rodríguez served as the General Coordinator to the Vice-President of Venezuela, both of which roles she held while her brother occupied the office of Vice President of the Republic.[31] In August 2013, President Nicolás Maduro appointed her as the Minister of Popular Power for Communication and Information of Venezuela, a position in which she was reaffirmed in 2014 and maintained until October 2014.[32]Read here for a newer update
>>2649831And here is the one of meeting for months. You can find various sources on this. It was even being reported on way before maduro was removed
https://havanatimes.org/features/the-secret-negotiations-between-the-usa-and-delcy-rodriguez/Delcy Rodríguez and her brother Jorge attended secret meetings in Doha with Qatari intermediaries and a senior UAE royal, acting as channels to President Trump, to discuss the removal of Nicolás Maduro last year.
An initial proposal presented to the U.S. called for:
• Maduro to step down but remain in Venezuela
• U.S. criminal charges to be dropped
• U.S. oil companies granted access
• Delcy Rodríguez to assume controlThat proposal failed.
A second proposal suggested Rodríguez lead a transition government, with Maduro going into exile in Qatar or Turkey. The U.S. rejected this as well, citing concerns it amounted to “Madurismo without Maduro” - a regime-lite outcome.
Rodríguez is now Interim President of Venezuela. Reporting indicates Maduro was unaware these talks were taking place.
Venezuela Envoy in Washington After CIA Chief Visits Caracas
A senior envoy for Venezuela’s new government is set to meet with US officials in Washington on Friday, according to people familiar with the matter, as the White House firms up its relationship with acting President Delcy Rodriguez’s administration in Caracas. - BLOOMBERG
Update
On January 16, the government of Venezuela, led by Interim President Delcy Rodríguez, submitted a bill to the National Assembly proposing a partial reform of the Organic Law of Hydrocarbons. The aim is to attract investment to the oil sector, particularly in areas lacking infrastructure or remaining undeveloped.
"We brought the hydrocarbons law reform bill to incorporate the production models that exist in the Anti-Blockade Law so that investment flows can be included and our hydrocarbons can be protected," Rodríguez was quoted as saying by Venezuelan daily Ultimas Noticias.
She added that the changes would allow those investment flows to be applied to new fields or fields that have not been developed due to a lack of infrastructure.
The proposal comes as the administration of President Donald Trump has expressed interest in reactivating Venezuela's oil sector and encouraging investment by major U.S. companies after years of stagnation, sanctions and legal restrictions.
Addressing lawmakers, senior military officials, representatives of Venezuela's branches of government and relatives of Maduro including detained lawmaker Flores, Rodríguez defended the energy agreement with the Trump administration as part of what she described as Venezuela's historic trade relationship with the United States and urged officials not to fear contradictions, according to digital outlet Efecto Cocuyo.
Current law requires state oil company PDVSA to hold a majority stake in all joint ventures with foreign partners. The reform could introduce more flexible arrangements for foreign investors, though specific details have not been disclosed.
>>2650047gorbochov opened up the USSR to US oil companies.
>>2650165Summary? Not going to watch 47 minutes
>>2648749He looks quite awkward
>>2650178nta, she said:
>If I have to go to the US wouldn't groveling.>Proposed reform to the hydrocarbons laws (something one would have to wait to see what is, but this is what exxon wanted to get rid-off since Chavez first signed it/it might be nothing, it might be a signal of backing down/Maduro had proposed a constitutional reform last year so it's a continuation of the policies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ke1MFNliws)>Venezuela is still under attack.>Venezuela is not afraid of going against the US diplomatically.>Maduro and Cilia will come back, Venezuela is doing everything to get them back.that should be the basic.
>US explores plan to swap heavy Venezuelan oil for U.S. medium crude to fill emergency reserve, sources say
The U.S. Department of Energy is exploring a plan to exchange heavy Venezuelan oil for U.S. medium, sour crude to fill up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, two sources said on Friday.
The Trump administration is looking to move the Venezuelan crude into storage tanks at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port from where the crude can be shipped to refineries. In exchange for the Venezuelan crude, companies will provide U.S. medium sour crude that can go directly into SPR storage, two sources said.
Exchanges have been used in the past by the government to release and acquire oil. Typically in an exchange, an oil refiner borrows SPR crude oil for a short time period, due to events such as hurricanes or temporary supply disruptions, and later replaces it in full, along with a premium of an additional quantity of oil.
-REUTERS
Update
>Exclusive: Energy secretary discusses plans for Venezuela's oil, minerals
Energy Secretary Chris Wright is looking to secure oil and critical minerals deals with Venezuela in the next few weeks ahead of a trip to Caracas, he said in a Friday interview with Axios.
Why it matters: The deals could give the U.S. exclusive access to key resources while helping finance the reconstruction of Venezuela's ailing economy.
What they're saying: "Our hope is that later this year, with bringing some stability with Venezuela, with some help from American assistance, commercial help — no money from our government, no subsidies — but by getting a more stable business environment, we'll see growing production out of Venezuela that'll increase dramatically," Wright told Axios.
The big picture: Wright said it's much bigger than oil and minerals for the U.S., which removed Nicolas Maduro from power in a stunning Jan. 3 raid.
"The goal is to drive Venezuela's behavior in a positive direction," Wright said.
"We want to stop the running of drugs. We want to stop the kidnapping of Americans. We want to stop the gangs and criminality and corruption. We want to stop the Hezbollahs of the Western Hemisphere."
Between the lines: President Trump has been clear about his goals of taking de facto control of Venezuela's oil production while hopes of democracy and elections have been an afterthought.
The president this week met with and praised Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, but stopped short of backing her.
Wright pushed back against the idea that the U.S. is "taking" anything.
"The counterparts in Venezuela are thrilled by this," Wright said.
"Think if you're in the Venezuelan administration right now, you know a third of that oil goes corrupt — gangsters are selling that oil. The remaining oil that you control, you're selling at a huge discount. It's almost all going to China. This is a boost for Venezuela."
The intrigue: The Trump administration has made clear that it's focusing on a functioning Venezuelan government financed by oil and minerals exports, not a new democracy, in the short-term.
As a result, the U.S. is backing Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro's former vice president, along with her brother, National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez and the head of the country's security services, Diosdado Cabello.
On Friday, CIA director John Ratcliffe met with Rodríguez in Venezuela to underscore the U.S. partnership.
Behind the scenes: Trump would only meet privately with opposition leader Machado on Thursday at the White House so as not to send the wrong signal to the acting president in Caracas, administration sources say.
Machado's meeting was arranged amid a lobbying campaign from Venezuelan exiles and her friend, Fox host Rachel Campos-Duffy, the wife of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, White House sources said.
What's next: Rodríguez has announced plans to reform the country's hydrocarbons law to allow for more U.S. investment.
"Venezuela took 200 deportations today in a flight and we're hoping for two to three flights like that a week," said a White House adviser involved in the negotiations with Caracas.
"Between the deportation flights into the country and the oil and mineral flows out that Wright is working on, we're facing an entirely new dynamic in the Western Hemisphere," the adviser said.
-AXIOS
Update
Trump: The jails are emptied out from Venezuela and now I like Venezuela very much. I think it is a wonderful country. It is so much different. It has changed so much in literally a week.
Trump on Venezuela: 50 million barrels of oil… I said, we will take it. I didn't consult with anyone. I didn’t have to call up our great attorney general.
Update
Trump on Venezuela: We have had a great relationship with the people that are currently – they say the interim president and everyone else…That was a great country 20 years ago and then it went bad because it had the wrong system, a bad system. That system can make good people bad people or incompetent people.
Update
>Trump Wants to Stop Foreign Drug Trafficking. A Rebel Group Stands in the Way.>President Gustavo Petro of Colombia is taking a harder line against the National Liberation Army, or ELN, a leftist group experts call a powerful drug trafficker in Colombia and Venezuela.in Venezuela
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Trump Wants to Stop Foreign Drug Trafficking. A Rebel Group Stands in the Way.
President Gustavo Petro of Colombia is taking a harder line against the National Liberation Army, or ELN, a leftist group experts call a powerful drug trafficker in Colombia and Venezuela.
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People dressed in military outfits standing on a dirt road, wearing bandannas on their faces and carrying weapons.
National Liberation Army, or ELN, rebels in the Catatumbo region of Colombia last year.Credit…Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Annie CorrealGenevieve GlatskyMax Bearak
By Annie CorrealGenevieve Glatsky and Max Bearak
Annie Correal, Genevieve Glatsky and Max Bearak reported this story from Bogotá, Colombia.
Jan. 16, 2026
Updated 8:58 a.m. ET
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Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, a stalwart leftist, has promised to achieve peace settlements with armed groups that have kept the country in a near-constant state of conflict for more than half a century.
But now Mr. Petro is threatening military action, alongside Venezuela, against the largest of those groups, the National Liberation Army, or ELN, a one-time revolutionary guerrilla group that experts say has become a major cocaine trafficker with a deep foothold in Venezuela.
“If the ELN does not join the peace process by leaving Venezuela, there will be joint military actions with Venezuela,” Mr. Petro wrote on X on Monday.
This week, the ELN proposed a nationwide “agreement” with the government, an offer Mr. Petro rebuffed. “An agreement was offered, and the ELN destroyed it with blood and fire,” he wrote on X.
He called instead for ELN fighters in Venezuela to disarm, return to Colombia, and begin a process to cede territory and reintegrate into society — or face military action.
“The order I gave was a total offensive against the ELN in Catatumbo,” Mr. Petro said in an interview with The Times.
After Mr. Maduro’s capture, Mr. Petro also announced the deployment of 30,000 troops to his country’s 1,300-mile border with Venezuela. “The first order I gave was not to defend Venezuela or anything like that,” he said, alluding to claims he was in league with Mr. Maduro. Instead, Mr. Petro said, he ordered ELN fighters to “disarm and re-enter Colombia.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/world/americas/trump-petro-colombia-eln-cocaine.htmlUpdate
Trump said today that he did not have to clear the barrels of oil coming into the U.S. from Venezuela with anyone.
The president said Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez told him the country had 50 million barrels of oil, which they requested the U.S. take, “because we have no room.”
“I said, ‘We’ll take it,’” Trump said.
“I didn’t have to consult with anybody on that. I didn’t have to call up our great attorney general. I said, ‘We will take it.’ And it’s the equivalent to $5.2 billion. So it was the first day, and it’s now traveling nicely to the United States,” he added.
Update
>>2650696This state department plane has been flying back and forth from Venezuela, Curacao and Colombia since January 8th. Very strange. It's currently headed to Venezuela from Colombia.
https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/STATE69/history/20260116/1422Z/TNCCUpdate
Exclusive: US moving fast to expand Chevron's Venezuela license, Energy Secretary Wright tells Reuters
WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. is moving as fast as it can to grant Chevron an expanded license for its oil production in Venezuela, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Reuters on Friday.
The U.S. plans to let Chevron pay the Venezuelan government with cash instead of crude in kind, which will let the company sell all the oil it produces in the country, Wright said.
Update
>>2649847the miami herald article talking about delcy negotiating with trump all the way back in october no longer exists:
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article312516272.htmlwtf (it's still available on the archive)
Venezuelan banks to receive $300 million in oil revenue from Qatar
Investing.com – Four Venezuelan banks will split $300 million in oil revenues from a Qatari account, according to a report from Reuters, citing financial sources and an analyst.
The Venezuelan government notified the banks this week about the funds, which will allow them to sell dollars to local companies needing foreign currency to pay for materials.
This injection of foreign capital comes as dollar supplies have tightened in recent weeks after the United States seized Venezuelan oil tankers, impacting the country’s primary revenue source
Venezuelan businesses that need to import raw materials typically exchange bolivars for dollars held by the central bank. These dollars come from oil sales and transactions made with foreign credit cards within Venezuela.
The U.S. announced this week it had completed the first $500 million in sales of Venezuelan oil, part of a $2 billion agreement reached following the removal of President Nicolas Maduro and the swearing in of interim leader Delcy Rodriguez.
Update
>>2650728Yeah I read this like shortly after she took over and it was really interesting. It definitely went into a lot of detail that I believe it has at least some credibility to be true. Like her brother is hardly mentioned but he appears very much involved in the government currently
>>2650593>He called instead for ELN fighters in Venezuela to disarm, return to Colombia, and begin a process to cede territory and reintegrate into society — or face military action.Is this retard really going to go to war against the guerrillas? when did it work before?
norwegians are outraged for the peace prize transfer. words ranging from 'stunned' to 'condemning' are used to describe the event.
mind you, they didn't care about the invasion in Jan. 3.
>>2649847>You guys are coping so hard about how delcy sold out to the usauntil she gets bombed, arrested, killed, same way with Maduro, rinse and repeat. right?
>Venezuela’s Delcy Rodriguez consolidates power after Maduro ouster - Bloomberg In Venezuela, much of the choreography of power looks just as it did before Nicolas Maduro’s capture by U.S. Special Forces.
Delcy Rodriguez, his longtime deputy, has seamlessly moved into the role of acting president. She has chaired meetings with senior officials, greeted international envoys, welcomed the press at Miraflores Palace and met privately with diplomats.
But beneath the continuity, the bedrock of Chavismo — Venezuela’s brand of socialism — is beginning to shift as Rodriguez quickly moves to consolidate authority and unite the fractured ruling coalition.
There are some subtle changes. Rodriguez’s days start earlier, her public remarks are far more concise and the marathon speeches that defined Maduro’s rule are gone. Public officials are now allowed back on X.
Other moves are far more consequential, including a reshaping of the Cabinet and security apparatus and the release of dozens of political prisoners. Decisions on senior personnel are being received positively by the Trump administration, according to one person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing sensitive deliberations.
Venezuela’s information ministry and the U.S. State Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
"She’s walking a tightrope, trying to please the U.S. at the same time as trying to keep Chavismo together,” said David Smilde, a professor and Venezuela expert at Tulane University. "So far she’s succeeded” and President Donald Trump "seems quite happy.”
Public signals of support have followed. On Tuesday, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, the ousted president’s son and a sitting lawmaker, told government supporters in Caracas he had received messages from his father and stepmother, Cilia Flores, expressing confidence in Rodriguez and the team now leading the country.
Supporters at another demonstration Wednesday chanted: "Delcy, go ahead, you have our confidence.” The slogan has been repeated in a state television advertisement showing an animated image of Rodriguez.
Just three days after Maduro was captured, Rodriguez elevated central bank chief Calixto Ortega Sánchez to vice president of the economy ministry, a more powerful position coordinating the government’s broader economic strategy across multiple ministries. She also named Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez, a former interior minister, to lead the Presidential Honor Guard, replacing Javier Marcano Tabata, after internal criticism that the unit failed to prevent Maduro’s arrest.
Rodriguez appointed lawmaker Juan Escalona, a close Maduro ally, as minister of the presidency and government management oversight. It’s a crucial role that acts as the president’s principal link across the executive branch and helps drive policy implementation. Escalona replaces Anibal Coronado, who was first shifted to the environment portfolio and then reassigned on Friday to the transportation ministry.
Also on Friday, Rodriguez appointed former Information Minister Freddy Nanez to the environment ministry, with journalist Miguel Perez Pirela taking over his previous role.
Further changes are expected, people familiar with her plans said. Posts at state energy company Petroleos de Venezuela SA and the oil ministry are under review, the people said. Rodriguez continues to simultaneously serve as oil minister.
She’s also expected to bring back longtime allies to key roles. Felix Plasencia, who attended a Friday meeting with Trump officials in Washington, is being considered for foreign minister or Venezuela’s ambassador to the U.S. as the relationship between both countries improves, according to people with knowledge of the plans.
Two influential but low-profile economists from Ecuador, Patricio Rivera and Fausto Herrera, who have been advising Rodriguez since at least 2019, are also playing key roles in the interim government, the people said. The men, who are key liasons for creditors and investors, both previously worked for their country’s former president, Maduro’s fellow socialist Rafael Correa.
Rodriguez is also expected to sideline figures with whom she has long clashed, the people said. On Friday evening, she announced Luis Antonio Villegas would take over the newly merged production and commerce ministries, replacing Colombian businessman and Maduro confidant Alex Saab.
Once the situation stabilizes, changes to the armed forces could follow. Speculation over Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino’s possible retirement has resurfaced since Maduro’s removal, raising the prospect of further shakeups among the highest ranks of the military. The U.S. has posted a $15 million reward for information leading to Padrino’s arrest or capture.
For now, Rodriguez publicizes her meetings with Padrino, saying they’re discussing plans "to continue preserving peace” and thanking the armed forces for their "commitment to defending Venezuela’s calm and stability.”
The political shifts are unfolding as the government continues to free prisoners in a process celebrated by Trump. Both Rodriguez and her brother, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, said earlier this week that the releases will continue, led by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.
By Wednesday, 406 people had been released, including 194 freed in December under Maduro, Delcy Rodriguez said. Of the nearly 200 expected to be released this month, independent organizations have so far confirmed only about half, including U.S. citizens and other foreigners. Cabello has personally handed over several high-profile international prisoners, according to one of the people.
Rodriguez and Cabello have long had a tense relationship, but the two have appeared aligned in private meetings, the people said. Cabello publicly pledged loyalty to Rodriguez early on, and has often appeared together with the acting president and her brother in a show of unity.
Cabello, a hard-line Chavista power broker, appears to have tightened his personal security. His two television programs since the U.S. raid were recorded outside their usual studio, and state television has delayed broadcasts of some of his news conferences, steps the ousted president himself took in the months before his capture. The U.S. has put a $25 million bounty on Cabello.
Behind the scenes, party leaders were given clear instructions.
"Unity is the first thing that must be preserved,” some officials were told during a private meeting held days after Maduro’s capture, according to a leaked memo seen by Bloomberg News.
So far, that message has shaped the image Rodriguez’s government is projecting.
She’s "trying to prioritize unity over change,” Smilde, the Tulane professor, said.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/17/world/politics/venezuela-rodriguez-consolidates-power/update
>>2651018Maduro was combative with trump and didn't obey him. Delcy is doing literally everything he tells her to do.
Delcy Rodríguez Goes From Pariah to the U.S. Pick to Lead Venezuela
Still sanctioned by Washington, she is outmaneuvering opposition rivals and playing for time to consolidate power - WSJ
>Venezuela Moves to Resume Dollar Sales, Halting Bolivar Rout
Venezuela is preparing to resume sales of dollars, bringing relief to its battered currency after a US oil blockade riled the local foreign-exchange market.
Venezuela is preparing to resume sales of dollars, bringing relief to its battered currency after a US oil blockade riled the local foreign-exchange market.
Banks in Caracas contacted corporate clients this week to offer the first significant supply of dollars from the government since mid-December, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly
The banks are collecting bids, though no funds had been disbursed as of Thursday, one of the people said.
The move follows the Trump administration’s authorization of two of the world’s largest commodities traders to sell Venezuelan oil. That revived hopes that some proceeds could reach the parched foreign-exchange market, helping stabilize the bolivar after weeks of gyrations.
Article content
Speaking to a group of business representatives later on Friday, Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez said that the proceeds from oil sales will be sent through the central bank to private financial institutions to supply the foreign exchange market.
Article content
“Our concern is that foreign currency should drive the national economy to guarantee Venezuela’s full productive capacity. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past,” she said.
Article content
Alejandro Grisanti, a director at local consultancy Ecoanalitica, said the funds are coming from a trust set up in Qatar to receive oil-sale proceeds. The move helps stave off a potential extreme depreciation in the exchange rate, which “would have left us on the verge of a new hyperinflation,” he said.
The bolivar stabilized in parallel trading on Friday at below 500 per dollar, according to prices posted on crypto trading platforms.
Article content
It had swung wildly since the US military began blocking oil exports, which dried up dollar supply and sapped the government of its principal source of foreign earnings.
Article content
The situation worsened after the US captured Nicolas Maduro, with the bolivar weakening more than 20% to around 800 per dollar at one point, stoking fears of another currency crisis.
Article content
In addition to authorizing some trading of Venezuelan oil, Trump met with oil companies to discuss potential investment in the nation’s energy industry. On Thursday, acting President Delcy Rodriguez presented a reform to the nation’s energy laws and announced the creation of two funds into which dollars from oil sales will be funneled
-BLOOMBERG
Update another
full appeasement mode
Venezuela has signed its first contract to export liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said Friday.
“Today, for the first time in our history, a contract for the marketing of LPG, of gas, has been signed,” Rodríguez said from an event aired on State TV. “We are delivering on our promise to President Maduro and to our people.”
Venezuela produces LPG at its José refining complex in eastern Venezuela. Output has fallen in recent years because of disinvestment and frequent accidents, contributing to shortages that have hit households across the country.
Much of Venezuela's gas supply is associated gas, produced alongside oil. Some companies already operate projects to use that fuel, but most of it is currently flared.
Expanding gas exports would require political coordination with the US following the capture of Nicolas Maduro by President Donald Trump's administration.
The move comes as Rodríguez seeks to recast Venezuela as open for foreign investment, loosening long-held restrictions on the energy sector as her government adapts to a new political reality after Nicolas Maduro's ouster
-bloomberg
>>2651242the only thing the oil companies want, the lobby behind every act of aggression against Venezuela, is to get rid off the hydrocarbon laws, and possibly secure the oil for paul singer's new acquisition, CITGO.
as I see it, Rosines Chavez and Nicolas Maduro Guerra backing Delcy, it's a clear signal that they are not doing whatever pedonty trumpty says.
>>2651278oof they left some sulphury smells in Caracas, just like when grenell and his state department retinues when he was touring in Caracas last year.
>>2651279
>oil sales will go to private banksthis is not what she's saying, though. First to BCV (Central bank) then to the private banks as exchange. like the normal process since… 2005? (changed in 2019 to the current scheme) I don't remember when started this process. it's very simple: the Central bank auctions batches of dollars (tens of millions), the banks offer an amount in Bs, depending on the exchange market (supply and demand) and the BCV settle the transaction.
before that the government was fixing bands, before that under one fixed exchange rate, etc.
>>2651292Okay my friend keep on your cope. I will keep sharing articles here as the days pass of how she keeps selling out. It will reach a point where it is too much for you to justify. Time will rack up and show more evidence. Don't worry.
>>2651294>Okay my friend keep on your copewhat cope? who else do you want to hear? the ghost of Chavez coming back from the tomb? Maduro father talks with his son through the lawyer, and there hasn't been any comment from his son that Maduro thinks someone betrayed him. give it a rest, US media wants to make a case of betrayal where the real signs are tangible.
>>2651296Don't worry. Let us see where things stand in 6 months. I know I am right that she sold out. You will see it over time. There will be nothing you can say as time passes.
>>2651297the golingerists and their like, all related to rafael ramirez said the same. none of them are under arrest in the US.
>>2651298Okay no worries. Let us see in 6 months. I know I am 100% right.
New: The Trump administration is preparing to use private military contractors to protect oil & energy assets in Venezuela rather than deploying US troops, sources tell us, setting up a potential boon for security firms w/ experience in region & ties to POTUS.
Some familiar names already being floated … including former Blackwater founder Erik Prince
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/15/politics/trump-private-contractors-venezuela-oil>>2651299you do you. I've enoyojed this one, where the entire video is dismissed, and the only theing left is that private banks are going to be the priority of dollar deposits from oil sales. even leaving out to the open the suggestion, the possibility, that she's talking about international private banks:
>>2651279how can I not laugh when the note says/implies the opposite of what she's saying.
>>2650766That's a blatant extortion, but Venezuela doesn't have a choice anyway
>>2651301Hey not bad! If Platner loses the senate race, he'll at least have a fallback
>>2651804>sources saysyeah. sure. lmao
>>2651278I think the dept. of state is sending diplomats, because the Venezuelan government didn't deny the visit of US governtment-linked planes…
and yet I think the photos are sus, because there are many AI generated pictures and videos running around, and the ones going around the US media with the usual opposition peddlers are full of AI problems.
>>2651863…are they trying to prove that they won and that Venezuela is a subject? That's a very Ukrainian spirited thing to do, if you know what I mean
>>2651868yet, it's like they are running a desperate campaign that Venezuela is totally submitted to the US government. Maduro, and Chavez always wanted to have diplomatic relationships under mutual respect, picrel.
>>2651870divide internally the chavistas.
>>2651870That's the thing. Who are they proving it to? Ukraine does the same bullshit thing where they first invent a victory and then have to defend their victory by cooking up evidence
>>2651873>this level of copeThank Allah there are still real third worldist copers on here.
I thought you guys were about to abandon this sinking ship
>>2651880>you’re coping because you’re coping because you’re copinglol
So what's the oil status? Are they just selling oil to the US or are burger companies going in there and taking ownership of everything
>>2651898>Are they just selling oil to the US or are burger companiesthey have been doing it since always. Chevron never left. it was Exxon and Conocc the biggest ones that left when the hydrocarbon laws were sanctioned.
>or are burger companies going in there and taking ownership of everything.let's see what the reform to the hydrocarbon laws do. however, Decly explained something about incorporating the anti-sanctions (
http://www.vuce.gob.ve/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Ley-Antibloqueo-Y-CENTRO-INTERNACIONAL-DE-INVERSION-PRODUCTIVA.pdf) laws to the hydrocarbon laws, so I am guessing it's a nothing burger. and besides, it needs to go to the National Assembly debate.
>>2651804hope china bankrupts that bitch
>>2651898venezuela is sending oil to the us, then the us sells the oil, keeps 1/3 of it and keeps the rest in american owned accounts abroad like qatar, which then give the remaining money to venezuela
>>2651988So Venezuela got thoroughly oil cucked
>>2651841who are you quoting?
>>2651970China has multiple times condoned debts with multiple states. your wishes are meaningless.
>>2651994the article. I've read it, there's no official statement from the Chinese government. just 'sources say', 'people familiar with the matter', 'unnamed officials', etc. like a grain of salt, take it with a grain of salt.
>>2652008link the article then
>>2652013weird non-sequitur.
>>2652020>BloombergOf course it is.
I was right, The government did a soft coup and gifted Maduro to Trump
>>2652260>husbandI thought she was divorced?
>>2652075 Schrödinger’s Delcy.
She’s both until she does or doesn’t do exactly what the U.S. wants.
>>2652075If someone is on the DEA list then it makes them more easily manipulated.
>>2652075Things aren't always so simple. There are clearly entrenched elements in the Venezuelan state that want to maintain at least some elements of the Bolivarian Revolution. We know this because the US has repeatedly failed in its usual Latam MO of cajoling/bribing the military into a coup, meaning they didnt have the institutuonal support they needed. That means that even if Rodriguez wants to become a complete sellout to the US (and I don't think it's yet clear if this is the case), she'd have to walk the tightrope between appeasing the US and maintaining the loyalty of the remaining anti-imperialist elements in her government.
>>2652020USAnos are effectively stealing billions from China indirectly and The PRC will only issue one strong worded letter of condemnation about it.
>>2652286read it carefully: husband of WARia maCHUDo's advisor, magali meda.
>>2652303that's not what they are saying.
she's a priority target
>In fact, Rodríguez has been on the radar of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for years and in 2022 was even labeled a “priority target,” a designation DEA reserves for suspects believed to have a “significant impact” on the drug trade, according to records obtained by The Associated Press and more than a half dozen current and former U.S. law enforcement officials.they are about to put her on a wanted list, too.
>>2653928>infographikkks showi hate this US state dept soy shit so fucking much lol
>>2653273lol it's so funny because everyone was calling trump an idiot during his first term, there's like a 99% chance you have an anti-trump tweet if you were involved in politics in 2016
>Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez assured US of cooperation before Maduro’s capture
>Exclusive: sources say powerful figures in the regime secretly told US and Qatari officials they would welcome Maduro’s departureBefore the US military snatched Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this month, Delcy Rodríguez and her powerful brother pledged to cooperate with the Trump administration once the strongman was gone, four sources involved at high levels with the discussions told the Guardian.
Rodríguez, who was sworn in on 5 January as acting president to replace Maduro, and her brother Jorge, the head of the national assembly, secretly assured US and Qatari officials through intermediaries ahead of time that they would welcome Maduro’s departure, according to the sources.
The communications between US officials from Delcy Rodríguez, who was then Maduro’s vice-president, began in the fall and continued after Trump and Maduro spoke in a crucial phone call in late November, the Guardian has learned, in which Trump insisted that Maduro leave Venezuela. Maduro rejected the demand.
By December, one American who was involved told the Guardian that Delcy Rodríguez told the US government she was ready: “Delcy was communicating ‘Maduro needs to go.’
“She said, ‘I’ll work with whatever is the aftermath,’” another person familiar with the messages said.
The sources say Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of state and national security adviser, at first a skeptic about working with regime elements, came to believe that Delcy Rodríguez’s promises were the best way to prevent chaos once Maduro was gone.
The pledge of cooperation by Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez before the Maduro raid has not been previously reported. In October, the Miami Herald reported on abortive negotiations via Qatar, in which Delcy offered to act as a transitional government chief if Maduro stepped down.
Reuters reported on Sunday that Diosdado Cabello,the powerful Venezuela interior minister, who controls police and security forces, had also been in discussions with the US at a point months before the Maduro operation.
All the sources say there was a fine distinction to the agreement by Delcy Rodríguez: while the Rodríguez family promised to assist the US once Maduro was gone, they did not agree to actively help the US to topple him. The sources insist this was not a coup engineered against Maduro by the Rodríguez siblings.
Hours after the raid, Trump appeared to confirm the talks. He told the New York Post that Delcy Rodríguez was onboard. “We’ve spoken to her numerous times, and she understands, she understands.”
The Venezuelan government did not respond to emailed questions concerning this story. The White House did not respond to detailed questions.
There were many official talks between Trump officials and the Maduro-led Venezuelan government happening on top of the backchannel conversations.
Maduro himself met with Ric Grenell, a top Trump aide, just 10 days after Trump’s inauguration, to discuss US prisoners, who were quickly released.
Key Trump aides continued official talks with Jorge and Delcy Rodríguez quite often, to coordinate, for example, the bi-weekly flights of Venezuelans deported from the US, according to two sources familiar with the talks. There was a barrage of issues that had to be solved: where the deportation flights would land, the status of Venezuelans imprisoned in El Salvador and political prisoners that could be released.
Meanwhile Delcy Rodríguez retained very close personal ties with Qatar, where members of the ruling family considered her a friend, according to sources familiar with their relationship. Qatar, a key ally of the US, donated a $400m luxury jet for Trump’s use in an unprecedented gift from a foreign country to a president. It used the good will it had in Trump’s White House to open more doors for Rodríguez in secret negotiations, two of the sources said.
As the Miami Herald reported in October, Rodríguez tried to propose a transition government, led by her, that would rule Venezuela if Maduro agreed to a prearranged retirement in a presumed safe-haven. The plan fell through, and Rodríguez fiercely denounced the story, but key Americans began to think she was far from a two-dimensional dogmatic leader.
Those who know her describe a figure with disarming quirks that help her form bonds easily. She drinks champagne, has a private ping-pong coach and a tendency to challenge foreign dignitaries to games.
By October, sources say, in secret, even the Americans who were most aggressive against Maduro were open to working with her.
One factor was her promise to work with American oil, and her acquaintance with Americans in the oil business. “Delcy is the most committed to working with US oil,” an ally of hers said.
The sources said Mauricio Claver-Carone, a former Trump special envoy for Latin America who still had the ear of Marco Rubio despite being out of government, was one key backer.
The main goal for the US was stability once Maduro was out, given the predictions of civil war and chaos. Another of the sources said “the biggest thing was trying to avoid a failed state”.
It wasn’t until late fall that Delcy Rodríguez and her brother actually engaged in discussions with the US behind Maduro’s back.
Maduro spoke to Trump on the phone in November, and by the next week it was clear Maduro would not leave.
For Delcy Rodríguez it was a delicate dance. At the same time they made the offer, the sources say she did not agree to actively betray Maduro. “She feared him,” said one official familiar with the events.
When the US attack helicopters flew into Caracas in early January, Delcy Rodríguez was nowhere to be found. Rumors spread that she had fled to Moscow, but two sources say she was on Margarita Island, a Venezuelan vacation spot.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/22/delcy-rodriguez-capture-maduro-venezuelaUpdate
>>2653928Wait…. I you ignor the bars, I have been in this prison for 15 years!
>Venezuela opens debate on an oil sector overhaul as Trump seeks role for US firmsCARACAS – Venezuela’s legislature opened debate Thursday on a bill to loosen state control over the country's vast oil sector in the first major overhaul since the late socialist leader Hugo Chávez nationalized parts of the industry in 2007.
The legislation would create new opportunities for private companies to invest in the oil industry and establish international arbitration for investment disputes.
Following the U.S. capture of former President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, the Trump administration has ramped up pressure on acting President Delcy Rodríguez and other allies of the ousted leader to invite greater investment from U.S. energy companies in Venezuela’s flagging oil industry.
A draft of the proposed legislation, a copy of which was seen by The Associated Press, represents a sharp turn away from the resource nationalism of Chávez, who accused multinationals of colonial exploitation and considered the country's oil wealth to be state property.
In apparent response to demands from U.S. oil executives, the proposed legislation would allow private companies to independently operate oil fields, market their own crude output and collect the cash revenues despite remaining, on paper, minority partners to the state oil company.
“The operating company shall assume the comprehensive management of the execution of the activities, at its sole cost, expense and risk,” the draft says, adding that portions of production volumes “may be directly commercialized by the operating company, once governmental obligations have been fulfilled.”
Crucially, the bill also would let companies settle legal disputes through arbitration in international courts rather than only local courts.
The legislation also would keep the current 30% royalty rate, but let the government cut royalties and taxes to as low as 15% for expensive or hard-to-develop oil projects, so that companies would be more willing to inves
The president of Venezuela’s National Assembly and the acting president's brother, Jorge Rodríguez, told lawmakers at the start of Thursday’s debate that the bill aims to “allow an accelerated increase in production” of oil in Venezuela.
“Oil under the ground is useless,” he said, referring to the need to boost oil production and open up new exploration opportunities.
Pushed by Delcy Rodríguez, the bill is expected to advance swiftly through the ruling party-dominated legislature. Lawmakers concluded the initial discussion of the bill on Thursday after around two hours and advanced the legislation to a second round of debate, yet to be scheduled.
During the session, Orlando Camacho, a lawmaker and head of Venezuela’s national Fedeindustria business association, told the assembly that the bill would ensure that Venezuela’s oil industry “remains the engine of the country.”
The proposed legal guarantees — ensuring that foreign companies can bring claims against Venezuela before international bodies — are necessary to attract private investment, he said.
Even as U.S. President Donald Trump looks to lure American companies to reboot Venezuela's oil sector, many remain concerned about the financial and legal risks of pouring billions of dollars into the country.
Plenty of investors have been burned before, their assets seized as Chávez nationalized parts of Venezuela’s lucrative oil industry in 2007. Firms like Exxon have been trying to get the Venezuelan government to compensate them for their billions of dollars in losses ever since, to no avail.
The current political uncertainty also worries investors. There is no timeline for holding democratic elections in Venezuela after Maduro's ouster as Rodríguez, long Maduro's loyal second in command, seeks to consolidate control. The Trump administration also hasn't said when it will lift the crippling sanctions imposed to weaken Maduro's government, which further restrict foreign operations in the country's oil sector.
https://www.wsls.com/news/world/2026/01/22/venezuela-opens-debate-on-an-oil-sector-overhaul-as-trump-seeks-role-for-us-firms/Update
>The U.S. authorizes China to buy Venezuelan oil, but under its rules and prices
>The United States confirmed that it will allow China to continue purchasing Venezuelan oil, but no longer under the conditions that benefited chavismo for years. This decision marks another step in the direct control that Washington exerts over Venezuela following the capture of Nicolás Maduro and the establishment of an interim government led by Delcy Rodríguez.
According to Reuters, the administration of Donald Trump has made it clear that Beijing will be able to purchase Venezuelan crude only at "fair market prices," and not at the discounted rates with which the Maduro regime settled political and financial debts with China. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that these sales will be monitored indefinitely by Washington.
According to the source cited by Reuters, although the crude will be sold in the global market, a significant portion must end up in U.S. refineries, under direct supervision of the American government.
Thanks to the decisive operation of President Trump, the people of Venezuela will receive a fair price for their oil, and not the corrupt and cheap price of the past," stated the official, in a remark that directly targets the dependency model that Caracas maintained for years with China.
The Asian giant has been the main buyer of Venezuelan crude oil for over a decade, a connection that allowed chavismo to survive sanctions, production collapses, and international isolation. Those shipments were used to pay off massive loans granted by Beijing, often at the expense of selling the oil well below market value.
Now the situation is changing. The U.S. Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, recently stated that Washington receives about 45 dollars per barrel of Venezuelan oil, a figure significantly higher than the approximately 31 dollars that were received prior to Maduro's downfall, according to data cited by Reuters.
Analysts and traders in the energy sector are anticipating that Chinese imports from Venezuela will begin to decline starting in February. The reason is simple: fewer vessels are managing to leave the country since the United States formally claimed control over the sales of Venezuelan oil, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Update
>Venezuela’s interim leader sacks Maduro ally Alex Saab as industry ministerVenezuela’s interim leader Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced she had dismissed Alex Saab from his role as industry minister. Saab is a close ally of deposed president Nicolas Maduro and has faced accusations of acting as a front man for the former leader.
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260116-venezuela-s-interim-leader-sacks-maduro-ally-alex-saab-as-industry-ministerUpdate
>U.S. Establishes Fund to Control All Venezuelan Oil RevenueU.S. President Donald Trump supervises the release of funds from sales of Venezuela's oil, an official at the U.S. Administration told Semafor on Thursday
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/US-Establishes-Fund-to-Control-All-Venezuelan-Oil-Revenue.htmlUpdate
Valero, Phillips 66 Jump on Cheap Venezuela Oil
Refiners move fast as U.S. imports reopen
Valero Energy (VLO, Financial) and Phillips 66 (PSX, Financial) are wasting no time jumping back into Venezuelan crude, becoming some of the first U.S. refiners to lock in heavily discounted barrels after Washington loosened restrictions.
According to Reuters, both refiners bought a cargo each through commodity traders, taking advantage of pricing that came in roughly $8.50 to $9.50 per barrel below Brent. That kind of discount is especially attractive for refiners like Valero and Phillips 66, whose facilities are built to process heavier crude. The deals follow the Trump administration's decision to allow up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil into the U.S., a quota estimated to be worth about $2 billion.
Trading houses Vitol and Trafigura, which were among the first to receive U.S. licenses this month, played a key role in moving the oil. Earlier sales reportedly cleared at discounts closer to $15 per barrel, underscoring how aggressively Venezuelan crude is being priced to regain market share.
Cheap heavy crude can meaningfully lift refining margins, especially at complex U.S. plants. Meanwhile, Chevron (CVX, Financial) is expected to receive broader U.S. licenses, potentially reshaping who benefits most from Venezuela's return to global markets.
Update
The first US sale of Venezuelan oil since the Trump administration illegally attacked the South American country earlier this month went to the company of a trader who donated millions to President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.
The roughly $250 million sale of Venezuelan crude went to Vitol, a Geneva-based energy and commodity trading firm whose US arm is headquartered in Houston. The Financial Times reported late last week that John Addison, a senior trader at Vitol, was involved in his company’s efforts to secure the deal.
Addison, who attended a recent White House meeting with other top oil executives, donated $6 million total to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign via several super PACs, including $5 million to MAGA Inc.
“Addison pledged to Trump at the [White House] event that Vitol would attain the best price possible for Venezuelan oil for the US, ‘so that the influence you have over the Venezuelans will ensure that you get what you want,’” according to the Financial Times.
>The son-in-law of Venezuelan opposition leader and former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has been released from prison in the South American country.
The release of Rafael Tudares Bracho on Thursday comes as the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez gradually reduces the number of political prisoners held in Venezuela’s prisons.
The move has been widely seen as a concession to the administration of United States President Donald Trump, which has kept military assets deployed off the country’s coast and threatened Venezuelan officials if they do not comply with US demands.
Rodriguez was sworn into office shortly after Trump authorised the abduction of her predecessor, former President Nicolas Maduro, on January 3. Members of the opposition coalition expressed joy at the news of Tudares Bracho’s release.
“After 380 days of unjust and arbitrary detention — having endured more than a year of the inhumane reality of enforced disappearance — my husband Rafael Tudares Bracho returned home this morning,” Edmundo Gonzalez’s daughter, Mariana Gonzalez, wrote on the social media platform X.
“It has been a stoic and profoundly difficult struggle.”
Update
>U.S State Dept official confirms 'limited' diplomatic team in Caracas to restore US-Venezuela relations
A "limited number" of U.S. personnel are operating in Caracas as Washington looks to resume diplomatic relations with Venezuela after the historic capture of Nicolás Maduro, Fox News has learned.
A senior State Department official told Fox News that the Trump administration plan to resume official diplomacy with Venezuela is under way. This is the first time a State Department official has commented on reporting about the diplomatic team on the ground.
"A limited number of U.S. diplomatic and technical personnel are in Caracas conducting initial assessments for a potential phased resumption of operations," the official said.
The official did not specify exactly what "a limited number" meant, and it is not immediately clear exactly how many people are on the ground. The phased resumption of operations would include the re-opening of the U.S. Embassy and consulate offices in Venezuela.
On Jan. 15, Rodriguez, who was sworn-in as Venezuela's interim president following the capture of Maduro, met with CIA Director John Ratcliffe. A U.S. official told CBS News that the purpose of the meeting was to "deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship."
Rodriguez's meeting with Ratcliffe took place one day after she had a phone call with Trump, who said the conversation was "very good."
The United States has named a two-time U.S. ambassador as its top envoy for Venezuela, according to the U.S. embassy in Caracas website, APA reports citing Reuters.
Update
>US oil companies will start drilling for oil in Venezuela in the near future, President Donald Trump said Thursday.
"We're going to start drilling very soon," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, DC from Davos, Switzerland.
The US has "the biggest" companies in the world, he said.
"We have them, and they're going to be going in. They're all negotiating right now," he added
Update
>Halliburton Prepares to Quickly Re-Enter Venezuelan Market
Halliburton HAL 4.69%increase; green up pointing triangle Chief Executive Jeff Miller expressed confidence that the oilfield-services company could quickly ramp up its business in Venezuela.
Uppdate
>Trump says Rodriguez 'showing strong leadership' in Venezuela
>Delcy's shown very strong leadership so far, I have to say. I am very happy with what she has done so far. We're moving in to the United States millions of barrels of oil as we speak," Trump told reporters when asked whether he'd let Rodriguez remain in power.
>"Venezuela's going to do better than they've ever done," he stressed.
Update
>U.S Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced plans to visit Venezuela in the coming weeks, signaling a potential thaw in US engagement with the oil-rich nation
>Speaking Thursday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wright told Bloomberg Television’s Annmarie Hordern that he intends to travel to Caracas soon to assess the country’s oil infrastructure and meet with officials, including acting President Delcy Rodríguez.
>“We will move OFAC approvals for anyone who wants to go down there,” Wright said, referring to the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces sanctions on Venezuela. The comment suggests the Trump administration is prepared to expedite licenses for US companies or individuals interested in pursuing opportunities in Venezuela’s energy sector.
The remarks come amid broader US efforts to reshape involvement in Venezuela’s oil industry following President Trump’s push to control and market Venezuelan crude supplies. Wright has previously outlined plans for the US to handle sales of Venezuelan oil — including stored volumes estimated at 30-50 million barrels — with proceeds directed toward benefiting the Venezuelan people while maintaining leverage for political changes.
The potential trip and eased approvals could encourage greater American private sector participation in revitalizing Venezuela’s dilapidated oil production, which has been hampered by years of sanctions, mismanagement, and political instability. Wright has described significant interest from US oil executives in returning to the country, with some projections suggesting output could rise substantially in the short to medium term.
Update
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is discussing investing in natural gas projects in Venezuela with another international producer, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The talks are preliminary.
If Adnoc did enter Venezuela, it would likely endear the UAE to Trump.
Update
>Venezuela Looks To Petrodollars To Bring Down Prices
The United States' grab for Venezuela's oil, while shocking, may yet provide a short-term boost for the South American nation's haggard economy.
This week, interim President Delcy Rodriguez said her country had received $300 million from Washington's sale of Venezuelan crude – money used to prop up the ailing local currency, the bolivar.
The dollars were injected into the domestic foreign exchange market to narrow a growing gap between the formal and informal rates, blamed for fast-rising inflation.
The mere anticipation of the injection reduced the gap.
Analysts believe the injection was a good step toward stabilizing the economy but long-term improvement will require a reliable supply of dollars.
Without it, Venezuela will soon "end up with another significant depreciation of its currency," said Alejandro Grisanti of the consulting firm Ecoanalitica.
In the longer term, he added, responsible fiscal policy, not exchange rate intervention, is the only solution to high inflation.
Venezuela's parliament on Thursday started debating plans, proposed by Rodriguez, to throw open the lucrative but nationalized oil sector to private investment after the US military ouster of longtime socialist leader Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuela decriminalized the use of the dollar and lifted controls to combat a hyperinflationary cycle that lasted from 2017 to 2022.
Since then, the government, under the economic leadership of Maduro's then–Vice President Rodriguez, began injecting petrodollars into the market whenever they were available.
This became more difficult under a blockade of Venezuelan oil by the United States, which in recent months seized several tankers transporting crude from the South American nation.
After Maduro's January 3 toppling, President Donald Trump said Washington was "in charge" of Venezuela, adding Rodriguez would be "turning over" millions of barrels of oil to be sold at market price.
"That money will be controlled by me," Trump added
Now Rodriguez, acting as president with a government made up of Maduro cronies, is once again looking at the dollar to try and stabilize the Venezuelan economy, which shrunk by 80 percent in a decade.
On Tuesday, she said revenues from the US sale of Venezuelan crude will be used to "protect against the negative impact of swings in the foreign exchange market."
Prices in Venezuela are set in dollars, but many people pay with the weak bolivar – taking advantage of the difference between the official and black-market exchange rate to pay less in real dollar value.
The dollar rose on the black market to over 900 bolivars shortly after the January 3 bombing raid that saw Maduro whisked away, blindfolded and cuffed, to stand trial in New York.
By Tuesday, it was half that, and the head of Venezuela's parliament – Rodriguez's brother Jorge Rodriguez – urged businesses to adjust their prices.
For ordinary Venezuelans, change cannot come soon enough.
The minimum wage is not even $0.40 per month – that is 40 US cents – the same as the state pension.
The government hands out discretionary bonuses as a supplement, but it is not enough.
"Every month pensioners have to decide whether to die from hunger or from illness," union leader Josefina Guerra told AFP of the economic situation, with medicine also hard to come by.
Labor organizations demanded on Monday that oil revenues be used to improve Venezuelans’ incomes and boost pensions.
"Prices have entered a terrible inflationary process. You can see it especially in meat," said Rafael Labrador, a 73-year-old lawyer
Update
>Venezuela’s new leader calls for opening oil industry to foreign investment and warmer US ties
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez used her first state of the union message Thursday to advocate for opening the crucial state-run oil industry to more foreign investment following the Trump administration’s pledge to seize control of Venezuelan crude sales.
For the first time, Rodríguez laid out a vision for Venezuela’s new political reality — one that challenges her government’s most deeply rooted beliefs less than two weeks after the United States captured and toppled former President Nicolás Maduro.
Under pressure from the U.S. to cooperate with its plans for reshaping Venezuela’s sanctioned oil industry, Maduro’s former vice president declared that a “new policy is being formed in Venezuela.”
She urged the foreign diplomats in attendance to tell investors abroad about the changes and called on lawmakers to approve oil sector reforms that would secure foreign firms’ access to Venezuela’s vast reserves
“Venezuela, in free trade relations with the world, can sell the products of its energy industry,” she said.
The Trump administration has said it plans to control future oil export revenues to ensure it benefits the Venezuelan peopl
In that vein, Rodríguez described cash from the oil sales flowing into two sovereign wealth funds, one to support crisis-stricken health services and another to bolster public infrastructure, much of which was built under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, and has since deteriorated.
These days the country’s hospitals are so poorly equipped that patients are asked to provide supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws.
While Rodríguez criticized the U.S. capture of Maduro and referred to a “stain on our relations,” she also promoted the resumption of diplomacy between the historic adversaries. Her succinct, 44-minute speech and mollifying tone marked a dramatic contrast to her predecessors’ fiery rants against U.S. imperialism that often went on for hours.
“Let us not be afraid of diplomacy,” Rodriguez. “I ask that politics not be transformed, that it not begin with hatred and intolerance.”
The day before, she gave a 4-minute briefing to the media to say her government would continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro’s harsh rule.
Update
Hugo Chavez despised delcy Rodriguez
https://apnews.com/article/delcy-rodriguez-maduro-trump-venezuela-e71f2289bc801446e05550d8f900a8d1Years later, while Jorge Rodríguez was a top electoral official under Chávez, he secured for his sister a position in the president’s office.
But she advanced slowly at first and clashed with colleagues who viewed her as a haughty know-it-all.
In 2006, on a whirlwind international tour, Chávez booted her from the presidential plane and ordered her to fly home from Moscow on her own, according to two former officials who were on the trip. Chávez was upset because the delegation’s schedule of meetings had fallen apart and that triggered a feud with Rodriguez, who was responsible for the agenda.
“It was painful to watch how Chávez talked about her,” said one of the former officials. “He would never say a bad thing about women but the whole flight home he kept saying she was conceited, arrogant, incompetent.”
Days later, she was fired and never occupied another high-profile role with Chávez.
Update
>Venezuela's proposed oil reform to give autonomy to companies to operate, cash sales -documentsJan 22 (Reuters) - A profound proposed reform of Venezuela's hydrocarbons law would allow foreign and local companies to operate oilfields on their own through a new contract model, commercialize output and receive sale proceeds even if acting as minority partners of state company PDVSA, drafts seen by Reuters on Thursday showed.
Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez last week submitted the reform proposal, expected to deeply modify the backbone of the OPEC country's oil industry by changing late President Hugo Chavez's landmark oil law, to the National Assembly.
Lawmakers are scheduled to begin its discussion on Thursday, following a flagship 50-million-barrel oil supply deal between Caracas and Washington this month, agreed after the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro.
Oil executives and potential investors as part of Washington's ambitious $100 billion reconstruction plan for Venezuela's energy industry are demanding autonomy to produce, export and cash sale proceeds in the country after Chavez's nationalizations and assets expropriations two decades ago.
The proposal would allow the government to adjust royalties down to 15%, from a current rate of 33%, for special projects and those requiring massive investments. It also adds the possibility of resorting to independent arbitration to solve controversies.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/venezuelas-proposed-oil-reform-autonomy-155707231.htmlUpdate
>Russia offered Maduro asylum via Vatican before US capture
Russia presented a formal proposal to the United States through Vatican mediation to facilitate Nicolás Maduro's departure from Venezuela in the months leading up to the military operation that resulted in his capture, according to diplomatic sources cited by Spanish outlet ABC.
The initiative, reportedly channelled through Cardinal Pietro Parolin, offered Maduro political asylum and personal security guarantees in Russian territory under the direct backing of President Vladimir Putin, the sources said. The proposal also extended to other senior officials in the former Venezuelan leader's administration.
Moscow's objective was to prevent US military intervention, contain regional instability and preserve dialogue channels with the Trump administration on other strategic matters including the Ukraine war, according to the sources.
The offer recalled the one given to former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, another close Kremlin ally who was granted asylum in Russia after his toppling in December 2024 but now lives in isolation, cut off from external communication and effectively confined despite his formal protection.
However, the plan collapsed when Maduro rejected the negotiated solution, reportedly due to concerns about his personal circumstances in exile and potential loss of control over foreign financial assets. The former Venezuelan leader demanded complete immunity, economic assurances and the ability to maintain a comfortable living standard in Russia, conditions that were not accepted, the sources said.
The Kremlin's diplomatic effort reflected Russia's desire to avoid an armed confrontation that would expose vulnerabilities in its military systems deployed in Venezuela and result in the definitive loss of its principal strategic ally in Latin America.
For over two decades, Venezuela served as a cornerstone of Russia's geopolitical presence in the Western Hemisphere through energy cooperation agreements, arms sales and political support against Washington.
Following the breakdown of diplomatic channels, the Venezuelan crisis entered what sources described as an "operational phase" that concluded weeks later with Maduro's arrest in Caracas during a US-led military operation on January 3. The rapid incursion laid bare the inability of Russian-manufactured air defence systems to counter the American action, a factor that deepened the strategic setback for Moscow.
According to current and former US officials cited by The New York Times, key elements of Venezuela’s Russian-supplied S-300 and Buk-M2 surface-to-air missile systems were not integrated with radar networks when US aircraft approached Venezuelan airspace. Some components were reportedly still in storage rather than deployed, rendering large sections of the country effectively undefended during the opening phase of the operation.
After Maduro's ouster, the Kremlin adopted an extremely cautious position, avoiding high-level statements and showing only lukewarm support for interim president Delcy Rodriguez. This stood in stark contrast to President Trump's enthusiastic embrace, which saw him praising Rodriguez as a "terrific person" and claiming his administration was making "tremendous progress" with her post-Chavista administration in several fields.
Update
>As Trump zeroes in on Venezuela’s oil, Rodríguez moves to meet his demandsVenezuelan lawmakers on Thursday backed a plan that would make it easier for foreign companies to participate in the country’s oil industry, in the latest move by Caracas to meet the demands of US President Donald Trump.
For almost two decades, much of the country’s oil industry has been nationalized under the government-controlled oil firm PDVSA, with foreign oil companies allowed only to operate in limited joint ventures with the public firm.
Under a proposed reform to the country’s hydrocarbons law, announced by acting President Delcy Rodríguez last week, foreign companies would be allowed to manage oilfields at their “own risk and cost,” Venezuela lawmaker Orlando Camacho said.
Venezuela’s National Assembly on Thursday gave its initial backing to the reform bill, which now faces a second round of debate before it can be adopted.
“Oil beneath the ground is useless,” said National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez, who is the brother of the acting president. “What good is it to say that we have the largest oil reserves on the planet if conditions … prevent an accelerated process toward production, toward increasing oil production? And we need to do it and do it now.”
In opening up access to US oil companies, the move would meet one of the main demands the Trump administration has made on Caracas following the capture by US forces of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.
The White House has previously announced agreements between Caracas and Washington for the sale of $500 million worth of Venezuelan crude, with Rodríguez on Tuesday saying that Venezuela had received $300 million of that figure.
The security issue
In what appeared to be another move to meet US demands, the lawmakers on Thursday backed another law aimed at boosting legal protections for businesses – one of the issues US oil company executives have told Trump is a condition for them to invest in the country.
“The appetite for jumping into Venezuela right now is pretty low. We have no idea what the government there will look like,” one well-placed industry source told CNN earlier this month
Venezuela has more proven oil reserves than any country on the planet. Yet oil companies say that to invest in far-flung drilling projects, they need confidence about what the operating environment there will look like years, if not decades, into the future.
Rodríguez also told a meeting of the Federal Government Council on Wednesday that there would be a public consultation on March 8 on plans for national infrastructure projects and improvements to “essential public services,” such as water, electricity and transportation.
That date – International Women’s Day – had been chosen “so that we may go forth with the spirit of our women, with the spirit of our warriors,” Rodríguez said.
Trump on Thursday offered a positive assessment of the acting president when asked by reporters if he would let her remain in power.
“But she’s shown very strong leadership so far, I have to say, and we’re moving in to the United States millions of barrels of oil as we speak,” Trump said of Rodríguez. “Well, right now … they’re showing very strong leadership.”
The latest moves by Rodríguez come as US Senate Democrats demand to know whether Trump’s inner circle stands to profit from Venezuelan oil sales, following CNN reports of the administration’s private talks with the nation’s biggest oil companies.
Release of prisoners
The US has also demanded that Venezuela release the many political prisoners it has locked up across the country.
While Venezuela has in the past denied keeping political prisoners, it announced two weeks ago it would release a “significant number” of people as a “peace” gesture to the US.
However, local organizations say the government has freed only around 15% of those held arbitrarily or for political reasons.
The Justice, Encounter and Forgiveness organization said Wednesday that it has verified 167 releases since January 8 and documents 949 people still detained for political reasons, a number it says has increased in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the rights group Foro Penal on Monday said there had been 143 releases, while its tally of political prisoners was at 777.
The government insists it has freed more people than rights groups claim. On January 14, it reported that about 212 people had been let out since the National Assembly leader announced the new phase of releases in early January. However, officials continue to withhold the identities of those released and the detention centers from where they were freed.
CNN has repeatedly requested more information from the government without receiving a response.
Some of those released have been high-profile figures such as Rafael Tudares, the son-in-law of opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González; Enrique Márquez, another former opposition presidential candidate; and Perkins Rocha, legal adviser to the Vente Venezuela party.
In a separate development Thursday, a senior State Department official confirmed to CNN that Ambassador Laura F. Dogu had been appointed Chargé d’Affaires of the US Office of Foreign Affairs for Venezuela.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/22/americas/venezuela-oil-law-reform-delcy-trump-latam-intlUpdate
Stop anon, let them recover!
>U.S. diplomats return to Caracas to assess reopening embassy after Maduro ouster
U.S. State Department officials, including the interim U.S. ambassador to Colombia, John T. McNamara, traveled to Venezuela on Friday for the first time since strongman Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces in his residence in Caracas, as Washington weighs reopening its embassy in Caracas after nearly six years.
The visit reflects the Trump administration’s efforts to re-establish a diplomatic presence in Venezuela following Maduro’s removal and comes as President Donald Trump has said the United States intends to play a central role in the country’s transition and reconstruction.
McNamara is also the head of the Venezuelan Affairs Unit, VAU, which has been operating out of the U.S. embassy in Bogotá since the U.S. withdrew its diplomats from Venezuela in 2019.
“On January 9, U.S. diplomatic and security personnel from the VAU, including Chargé d’Affaires John T. McNamara, traveled to Caracas to conduct an initial assessment for a potential phased resumption of operations,” a State Department spokesperson said.
The United States withdrew its diplomats and suspended embassy operations in 2019 after Maduro’s government severed diplomatic ties in response to Washington’s recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president. Since then, U.S. diplomatic engagement with Venezuela has been handled from the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá.
In a statement, the socialist regime in Caracas, now led by interim President Delcy Rodríguez, confirmed Friday that they were in “exploratory” talks for the reopening of the embassies in Caracas and Washington as a needed step to address “the aggression and kidnapping of the President of the Republic and the first lady, and to address issues of mutual interests.” The statement also said that a Venezuelan delegation will travel to the United States with similar purposes.
Against the backdrop of the visit is the fate of at least five Americans who have been recently detained in Venezuela as the Trump administration was building up a military force off the coast of the South American country.
On Thursday, Venezuelan interim authorities announced they were releasing prisoners, including foreigners, as a goodwill gesture. So far, the government has released a few prisoners, including five Spanish and two Italian citizens. Some of them were Venezuelans with dual nationality, like the politician Biagio Pilieri and the activist Rocío San Miguel.
The State Department has not said if the Americans will be released. In a social media post announcing that Venezuelan interim authorities were releasing “large numbers of political prisoners as a sign of ‘Seeking Peace,’” Trump did not mention the Americans detained.
Though it is still unclear if Rodriguez’s government will free over 800 people considered political prisoners by Foro Penal, an organization tracking arbitrary arrests in Venezuela, events are unfolding fast after the U.S. military raid to capture Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
On Thursday, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the United States will immediately begin selling between 30 and 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil as part of a plan under which the U.S. would market the oil and control how the proceeds are used. In Caracas, Rodríguez met with some members of minority opposition parties in the National Assembly.
Update
>Halliburton takes step toward possible Venezuela return with job board posting
HOUSTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Halliburton is seeking resumes for a range of positions in Venezuela, including engineers and technicians, according to a job board posting from the oilfield service company dated January 16, signalling a potential move back to the South American country.
The posting comes just weeks after the U.S. government captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and U.S. President Donald Trump called on oil companies to invest $100 billion in Venezuela to vastly boost production.
Halliburton, which exited Venezuela in 2020 and eliminated all staff positions there following U.S. sanctions, is collecting candidate information from engineers, technicians and other skilled oil workers and recent graduates interested in joining the company's "talent network" in the country.
The job platform said that the submissions would allow recruiters to view candidates' profiles for potential future job opportunities, but these would not constitute a formal application.
Halliburton did not immediately reply to a request for comment seeking additional details.
The company's CEO, Jeff Miller, participated in a January 9 meeting at the White House with Trump, where he said the company first started operations in Venezuela in 1938.
Miller told Trump that he had lived in Venezuela for four years at one point and raised his children there. The company is "very interested" in returning, he added
Update
>Venezuela Private Sector Says Fresh Flow of Dollars Could Stabilize Exchange Market, Prices
Jan 21 (Reuters) - The head of Venezuela’s main business association said the group welcomes the economic measures announced so far by the country's interim government, including a fresh injection of foreign currency funded by oil revenues, saying the moves will help stabilize the exchange market and prices.
Venezuelans have suffered a long economic deterioration marked by shortages, triple-digit inflation and the devaluation of the local bolivar currency, with the monthly minimum wage equivalent to just $0.37. Though public sector workers earn about $120 with bonuses, analysts estimate basic products for a family cost some $500 per month. Even those working in the private sector, which pays higher salaries, often earn bolivar-denominated wages in an economy that has been largely dollarized for years.
Supplies of dollars, which businesses need in order to bring in imported materials, tightened sharply at the end of 2025, as the U.S. seized Venezuelan oil tankers and hit the country's top revenue flow, stoking inflation.
But Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez said on Tuesday the country had received $300 million in oil sales, the first funds to arrive under a 50‑million‑barrel supply agreement announced by U.S. President Donald Trump following the capture of Rodriguez's predecessor Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.
“We welcome steps aimed at regularizing and stabilizing the exchange system…any exchange gap affects the pricing system,” said Felipe Capozzolo, president of Fedecamaras, the country’s main private sector guild, in an interview late on Tuesday, referring to the difference between the official and unofficial exchange rates. “Businesspeople are the first to want price stability in Venezuela. We will support any measure taken by the government aimed at stabilizing the economy."
Businesses still face challenges like inflation, tax pressures and financing restrictions, Capozzolo said, but expectations about the economy are beginning to improve on renewed momentum in the oil sector and a possible rise in investment.
“A different perception is beginning to take shape about what our economic performance might be,” he said.
The government has said the economy grew 9% in 2025, though it has not provided inflation data. Local analyst firms estimate much more modest economic growth of around 3% and consumer price rises above 400% last year.
Venezuelans hope more oil exports will boost the economy and improve wages battered by soaring inflation.
“Venezuelans want to earn a decent income. Our wages are worthless, on the floor. We need investors to come, because there are no good jobs,” said Moises Figueredo, a 56‑year‑old security guard, as he bought food at one of Caracas’ main markets. “I hope things improve."
“I worked at a ministry but left because the situation was tough, my salary wasn’t enough even for transport,” said Celis Chirinos, 44, a fruit and vegetable vendor. “What we want is to work, to see things improve."
>Trading house Trafigura has sold its first cargo of Venezuelan crude oil as part of a 50-million-barrel supply deal between Caracas and Washington, industry sources said on Thursday, with Spanish refiner Repsol taking the shipment.
The cargo is expected to be delivered to Repsol in Spain in February, two of the sources said.
Trafigura did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Repsol declined to comment.
The deal would mark one of the first sales of Venezuelan oil to Europe since the United States captured the South American country's leader earlier this month and then struck agreements with Caracas to export up to 50 million barrels of its oil.
Trafigura and rival commodities trading house Vitol were tapped by Washington to facilitate the initial exports.
Vitol is separately shipping a cargo of Venezuelan oil to its Saras refinery in Italy as part of the deal, several industry sources told Reuters earlier on Thursday.
Vitol has also struck deals to sell cargos of Venezuelan oil to U.S. refiners Valero Energy and Phillips 66, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The trading houses have been marketing Venezuelan oil to refiners in India and elsewhere too.
Update
>Release of political prisoners, Delcy Rodríguez's "gesture" after Maduro's capture
The release early Thursday morning of Rafael Tudares , son-in-law of opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia , is the latest in a series of more than 150 releases that, according to several NGOs, have taken place in Venezuela since January 8. It was on that date that the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, announced the release of “a significant number” of detainees
Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez , has framed these releases of political prisoners, which the government puts at 400, within the "new political moment" that she says her country is going through, since on January 3, President Nicolás Maduro was captured in an operation by US troops along with his wife, Cilia
“The message is that Venezuela is opening up to a new political moment that allows for understanding from divergence and from political and ideological diversity, but it must be with respect for the other, it must be with respect for human rights,” said Rodríguez, who then put the number of releases since last December at 406.
Her statements came on the same day that Trump revealed he had held a telephone conversation with the interim president as part of the rapprochement between Caracas and Washington, which for the United States has as its main focus Venezuelan oil.
Trump, who that day described the Chavista leader as a "fantastic person," has said he will govern Venezuela until there is a "safe" transition
Update
>Venezuelan interim president Rodriguez to visit US. Delcy Rodriguez would be the first sitting Venezuelan president to visit the US in more than 25 years.
Venezuela's interim president will soon visit the United States, a senior US official said on Wednesday, January 21, further signaling President Donald Trump's willingness to embrace the oil-rich country's new leader. Delcy Rodriguez would be the first sitting Venezuelan president to visit the United States in more than a quarter century, aside from presidents attending United Nations meetings in New York.
She said, on Wednesday, that she approached any dialogue with the United States "without fear." "We are in a process of dialogue, of working with the United States, without any fear, to confront our differences and difficulties (…) and to address them through diplomacy," said Rodriguez.
A senior White House official said Rodriguez would visit soon, but no date has been set. The invitation reflects a head-snapping shift in relations between Washington and Caracas since US Delta Force operatives swooped into Caracas, seized President Nicolas Maduro and spirited him to a US jail to face narcotrafficking charges.
She has allowed the US to broker the sale of Venezuelan oil, facilitated foreign investment and released dozens of political prisoners
On Wednesday, she also began reorganizing the leadership of the country's military forces, appointing 12 senior officers to regional commands. Trump has so far appeared happy to allow Rodriguez and much of the repressive government to remain in power
>Delcy Rodríguez asserted that the reform of the Hydrocarbons Law will strengthen energy sovereignty.
The change in legislation is also aimed at "attracting investment and developing untapped areas for the benefit of the Venezuelan people," the acting president emphasized.
This Thursday, the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, asserted that the Partial Reform of the Organic Hydrocarbons Law is aimed at strengthening energy sovereignty, attracting investments and developing unexploited oil fields for the benefit of the Venezuelan people.
This was reported on her social media accounts, where she indicated that she was present at the office of the Vice Minister of Petroleum, Paula Henao , and, accompanied by a group of officials, monitored the National Assembly session in which the "historic reform of the Organic Hydrocarbons Law" was considered. The high-ranking official explained that the objective of the Law is "to attract investment for the development of fields never before exploited in Venezuela, which will generate happiness and well-being for the Venezuelan people."
"May the exploitation of the oil fields be for the happiness of the people , directly for the happiness of our people," he proudly declared after the project's approval in its first reading.
"Together with the officials of the Ministry of Hydrocarbons, we are monitoring the healthy and necessary debate in the National Assembly on the Partial Reform of the Organic Law of Hydrocarbons, aimed at strengthening energy sovereignty, attracting investments and developing unexploited fields for the benefit of the Venezuelan people," he wrote on his interaction platforms.
For her part, Vice Minister Henao stated that "this reform of the law is very timely, especially at this moment." She also referred to the "immense reserves" that Venezuela still has to develop, "especially in the Orinoco Oil Belt, and this proposed law allows us to promote the development of these fields by attracting investments that will mean greater benefits for the people."
A qualified majority in the National Assembly:
The President of the Legislative Branch, Jorge Rodríguez who is her brother, reported that the Draft Law for the Partial Reform of the Organic Hydrocarbons Law, aimed at accelerating the increase in oil production in Venezuela, was approved in its first reading by a qualified majority. He also indicated that it is a "necessary reform."
Update
Facing U.S. Pressure, Venezuela Agrees to Take More Deportees
Venezuela’s interim government, in another sign of its willingness to placate the Trump administration, is receiving more deportation flights. Three flights arrived this week.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/world/americas/venezuela-trump-ice-deportation-flights.htmlUpdate
SLB (SLB) CEO Olivier Le Peuch said Friday the company is well-positioned to quickly expand its business in Venezuela, given its role as the only international oilfield services provider that has maintained an active operating presence in the country, delivering services for Chevron under the oil producer's license
https://seekingalpha.com/news/4542199-slb-ready-to-quickly-ramp-up-venezuela-activity-ceo-saysUpdate
Jan 23 (Reuters) - Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodriguez said on Friday that 626 people have been released from prison to date as part of an ongoing release process, yet she did not specify the timeline of the reported releases.
Venezuelan human rights group Foro Penal has confirmed the release of just 154 political prisoners in Venezuela since January 8.
Rodriguez said that she is due to have a call on Monday with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, to ask the U.N. to verify the lists of those released so far in the Andean nation.
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuelas-interim-president-rodriguez-says-626-prisoners-released-2026-01-23/Update
New Venezuela leader calls for warmer relations with US, opening oil industry to outside investors
https://www.aol.com/articles/venezuela-leader-calls-warmer-relations-212248957.htmlUpdate
>Exclusive-Mexico Weighs Stopping Oil Shipments to Cuba Amid Concerns of Trump Retaliation, Sources SayMEXICO CITY, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The Mexican government is reviewing whether to keep sending oil to Cuba amid growing fears within President Claudia Sheinbaum's administration that Mexico could face reprisals from the United States over the policy, which is a vital lifeline for the Communist-run Caribbean island, according to three sources familiar with the discussions.
A U.S. blockade of oil tankers in Venezuela in December and the dramatic capture of President Nicolas Maduro this month have halted Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba, leaving Mexico as the single-largest supplier to the island that suffers from energy shortages and mass blackouts.
Mexico's pivotal role in sending oil to Cuba has also put the U.S.' southern neighbor in Washington's crosshairs. President Donald Trump has stressed Cuba is "ready to fall" and said in a January 11 Truth Social post: "THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!"
Publicly, Sheinbaum has said Mexico will continue oil shipments to Cuba, saying they are based on longterm contracts and considered international aid. But the senior Mexican government sources said the policy is under internal review as anxiety grows within Sheinbaum's cabinet that the shipments could antagonize Trump
Mexico is trying to negotiate a review of the USMCA North American trade pact, while also persuading Washington it is doing enough to combat drug cartels and that U.S. military action against the groups on Mexican territory is neither welcome nor needed.
The government review of Cuban oil shipments has not been previously reported, and the sources requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. It remains unclear what ultimate decision the Mexican government might take, with sources saying a complete halt, a reduction, and a continuation in full are all still on the table
The Mexican presidency told Reuters the country "has always been in solidarity with the people of Cuba" and added that shipping oil to Cuba and a separate agreement to pay for the services of Cuban doctors "are sovereign decisions." The Cuban government did not respond to a request for comment.
A White House official said: “As the President stated, Cuba is now failing on its own volition … there will be no more oil or money going to Cuba from Venezuela, and he strongly suggests Cuba makes a deal before it is too late.”
LAND ATTACKS ON CARTELS
In recent weeks, Trump has ratcheted up pressure on Mexico, saying the country is run by the cartels and that ground attacks against them could be imminent. Sheinbaum has repeatedly stressed that any unilateral U.S. military action in Mexican territory would be a grave breach of the country's sovereignty.
"There is a growing fear that the United States could take unilateral action on our territory," one of the sources added.
During a phone call last week, Trump questioned Sheinbaum about crude and fuel shipments to Cuba and the presence of thousands of Cuban doctors in Mexico, two of the sources said. Sheinbaum responded that the shipments are "humanitarian aid" and that the doctors deal "is in full compliance" with Mexican law, the sources familiar with the call said. They added Trump did not directly urge Mexico to halt the oil deliveries.
The three sources said officials in Sheinbaum's government are also increasingly concerned about a growing presence of U.S. Navy drones over the Gulf of Mexico since December. Local media have reported, using flight-tracking data, that at least three U.S. Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton drones have conducted a dozen flights over the Bay of Campeche, roughly following the route taken by tankers carrying Mexican fuel to Cuba.
These same reconnaissance aircraft were spotted off the Venezuelan coast in December, days before the U.S. attack on the South American country.
Sheinbaum has spearheaded an offensive against the notorious Sinaloa Cartel and approved three unprecedented mass transfers of nearly 100 drug kingpins to the United States.
These measures have been praised by high-ranking U.S. officials, but Sheinbaum has repeatedly stated that unilateral U.S. action on Mexican soil represents a red line.
"Very little of the crude oil produced in Mexico is sent to Cuba, but it is a form of solidarity in a situation of hardship and difficulty," Sheinbaum said on Wednesday. "That doesn't have to disappear," she added.
CUBA'S MEXICAN OIL LIFELINE
Trump's pressure campaign against Cuba dates back to his first term when he reversed much of the historic rapprochement orchestrated by former Democratic President Barack Obama, and has only increased since the Republican returned to office a year ago.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban American, has been a driving force behind Trump's Venezuela policy, which he and other U.S. officials also see as potentially weakening Maduro's Cuban allies. But the constraints on Trump's approach to Cuba are more daunting, given Havana's regional and international support, the entrenched nature of Cuba's leadership and security forces, and the ability the country has shown to withstand decades under a tough U.S. economic embargo.
The largest island in the Caribbean relies heavily on fuel imports of refined products to meet its demand for electricity generation, gasoline, and aviation fuel. U.S. sanctions and a deep economic crisis have prevented the Communist government from purchasing enough fuel for years, forcing it to depend on a small group of allies.
Within Sheinbaum's government, the three sources said, there is a belief that Washington's strategy of cutting off Cuba's oil could push the country into an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, triggering mass migration to Mexico. For this reason, they added, some in the government are pushing to maintain some fuel supplies to the island.
With Venezuelan supplies to Cuba stopped, it appears unlikely that other oil producers would step in to make up the shortfall, given the U.S. focus and heavy military presence in the region. The U.S. has seized tankers that had been involved in the Venezuelan oil trade, vessels in the shadow fleet that supply crude from countries under U.S. sanctions, including Iran and Russia.
Between January and September last year, Mexico shipped 17,200 barrels per day of crude oil and 2,000 bpd of refined petroleum products to Cuba worth approximately $400 million, according to information reported by Mexican state oil company Pemex to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/mexico-weighs-stopping-oil-shipments-cuba-amid-concerns-trump-retaliation-2026-01-23/Update
Venezuela Welcomes First Naphtha Cargo Amid U.S. Oil Deal
Venezuela's oil industry sees a crucial development as the first naphtha cargo arrives as part of a new oil deal with the U.S., marking a significant step in the ongoing $2 billion bilateral agreement. This shipment is essential for diluting Venezuela's extra-heavy crude oil
Venezuela has received its first cargo of naphtha, an integral part of an oil agreement struck with the United States this month, according to ship tracking data. The tanker, chartered by trading giant Vitol, reached Venezuelan waters on Friday.
The deal, orchestrated after the U.S. detained Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, includes a $2 billion framework to distribute 50 million barrels of stored Venezuelan oil. Additionally, it gives firms like Vitol and Trafigura preliminary access to Venezuela's oil for resell globally while facilitating the supply of heavy naphtha to manage the country's dense oil output.
The United Kingdom-flagged Hellespont Protector tanker, loaded with approximately 460,000 barrels of heavy naphtha from the U.S., was nearing Venezuela's Jose port for a scheduled discharge. Due to U.S. sanctions that have impeded other suppliers, Venezuela's oil industry had been facing significant challenges due to shortages in essential blending chemicals.
Update
>>2661593
least comprador leftcom
>>2661538>They added Trump did not directly urge Mexico to halt the oil deliveries.a bit of a promising note
>Local media have reported, using flight-tracking data, that at least three U.S. Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton drones have conducted a dozen flights over the Bay of Campeche, roughly following the route taken by tankers carrying Mexican fuel to Cuba.>These same reconnaissance aircraft were spotted off the Venezuelan coast in December, days before the U.S. attack on the South American country.the opposite of promising lol
>>2661538What a massive cuckening this has been, how embarrassing.
>Trump administration weighs naval blockade to halt Cuban oil imports“Energy is the chokehold to kill” the Cuban regime, said a person familiar with the discussions.
The Trump administration is weighing new tactics to drive regime change in Cuba, including imposing a total blockade on oil imports to the Caribbean country, three people familiar with the plan said Thursday.
That escalation has been sought by some critics of the Cuban government in the administration and backed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two of the three people, who were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive discussions. No decision has been made on whether to approve that move, but it could be among the suite of possible actions presented to President Donald Trump to force the end of Cuba’s communist government, these people added.
Preventing shipments of crude oil to the island would be a step-up from Trump’s statement last week that the U.S. would halt Cuba’s imports of oil from Venezuela, which had been its main crude supplier.
But there are ongoing debates within the administration about whether it is even necessary to go that far, according to all three people. The loss of Venezuelan oil shipments — and the resale of some of those cargoes that Havana used to obtain foreign currency — has already throttled Cuba’s laggard economy. A total blockade of oil imports into Cuba could then spark a humanitarian crisis, a possibility that has led some in the administration to push back against it.
The discussions, however, show the extent to which people inside the Trump administration are considering deposing leaders in Latin America they view as adversaries.
“Energy is the chokehold to kill the regime,” said one person familiar with the plan who was granted anonymity to describe the private discussions. Deposing the country’s communist government – in power since the Cuban revolution in 1959 – is “100 percent a 2026 event” in the administration’s eyes, this person added.
The effort would be justified under the 1994 LIBERTAD Act, better known as the Helms-Burton Act, this person added. That law codifies the U.S. embargo on Cuban trade and financial transactions.
Cuba’s embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
A White House spokesperson did not address a question on whether the administration was considering blocking all oil imports into Cuba.
Cuba imports about 60 percent of its oil supply, according to the International Energy Agency. It was heavily dependent on Venezuela for those imports until the Trump administration started seizing sanctioned shipments from that country. Mexico has more recently become the main supplier as Venezuelan crude shipments have dried up.
Mexico, however, charges Cuba for imported oil and its shipments are not expected to fully ameliorate Cuba’s worsening energy shortage.
Since the U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the administration has turned its attention on Cuba, arguing that the island’s economy is at its weakest point, making it ripe for regime change soon. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, have each voiced their optimism that the island’s communist government will fall in short time given the loss of Venezuela’s economic support.
Toppling the communist regime in Cuba would fulfill a nearly seven-decade political project for Cuban exiles in Miami, who have pushed for democracy on the island since Fidel Castro took power after ousting the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Rubio has long been an advocate for tough measures against Havana in the hopes of securing the fall of the regime.
Conditions on the island have indeed worsened, triggering blackouts and shortages of basic goods and food products. But the regime has weathered harsh U.S. sanctions — and the sweeping trade embargo — for decades and survived the fall of the Soviet Union after the Cold War. Meanwhile, concerns remain that the sudden collapse of the Cuban government would trigger a regional migration crisis and destabilize the Caribbean.
Critics of the Cuban government will likely celebrate the proposal if implemented by the White House. Hawkish Republicans had already embraced the idea of completely blocking Cuba’s access to oil.
“There should be not a dime, no petroleum. Nothing should ever get to Cuba,” said Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) in a brief interview last week.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/23/trump-administration-weighs-naval-blockade-to-halt-cuban-oil-imports-00744708Update here
Weekly reminder that Art of the Deal was ghostwritten and has nothing to do with Trump whatsoever. Tell your favorite world leader who seems enchanted by Mr. Deal Man President. You'd be doing the world a lot of good.
>>2661647Hilarious that this retarded fucking pseud thinks Morena or Sheinbaum are in any way leftists
any updates on how things are inside venezuela?
>>2661760Nothing too eventful.
I'm not like super, super optimistic, but it's still looking like Trump shit the bed, all things considered.
>>2661760This was made public today.
Also, pro-government rallies haven't stopped.
the opposition clowns are trying to get traction on the streets about the 'political prisoners' (people aught doing violence on the streets in 2024, and probably before) bot got little to no traction.
What level of Copium are the "They didn't sell out" fags in this thread at this point?
>>2661814They sold him out. Obviously they will keep doing Bolivarian PR ops to pacify the supporters.
>>2662057this has been the message of pretty much all serious communists involved in latam I follow, that there was no betrayal
>>2662057>>2662070>>2662134>>2662210I lean toward Vijay here. There's no evidence of a top-down betrayal, though some betrayal at some level may have been involved. The actions of the government since are all explainable by the inequality of the situation and a badly outmatched government feeling their only option is to try to appease the much stronger foe at their throat. You don't need the grand conspiracy. It's possible, but not necessary to explain the situation.
This concerted MSM campaign to paint Delcy as the big Judas with flimsy evidence makes this seem less likely, not more. It looks like CIA propaganda designed to sow division and distrust in Venezuela to weaken the government further.
>>2662842they don't care.
the same way they didn't care when Maduro was in power.
Like, I posted this confirmed video:
>>2661811, where Delcy clearly and out in the open states that she doesn't care to face the same fate, death (being killed, at the moment they were told that Maduro was killed), and they'll spin everything to attack the leadership.
I've told multiple times that Maduro's son, Chavez's daughter came out in support of Delcy, and it's a non-stop of US cia media slop.
How come no one mentions that Bush invaded Panama in the 90s cuz muh drugs, captured Noriega and tried him in the US? It's literally the situation in Venezuela 1 to 1
Do burgers memory not extend beyond 10 years?
>>2661814>>2661820So this is the power of Chinese internationalism
>Venezuela’s leader Delcy Rodríguez signs law opening oil sector to privatizationVenezuela’s government on Thursday approved opening 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.
The National Assembly approved the overhaul of the energy industry law less than a month after the brazen seizure of then-president Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military attack in Venezuela’s capital.
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez then signed the reform into law shortly after before large group of state oil workers and government supporters. As the bill was being passed, the Treasury Department officially began to ease sanctions on Venezuelan oil that once crippled the industry, and expanded the ability of U.S. energy companies to operate in the South American nation, the first step in plans outlined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio the day before.
The moves by both governments on Thursday are paving the way for yet another radical geopolitical and economic shift in Venezuela.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-venezuela-oil-sector-overhaul-delcy-rodriguez-maduro-united-states/Trump says Venezuelan airspace will reopen to commercial travel and Americans soon can visit
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he has informed Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, that he will open up all commercial airspace over Venezuela and Americans will soon be able to visit.
Trump said he instructed his transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, and U.S. military leaders to take steps to open the airspace for travel by the end of the day.
“American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe there,” the Republican president said.
https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-us-trump-airspace-d6d3f64997da8c2570b702f3e9e6d693Delcy Rodríguez confirms direct contact with Trump and Rubio and speaks of "significant progress" with the U.S.
Interim president Delcy Rodríguez, reported on Thursday that she had a phone conversation with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, as part of what she described as a "new bilateral work agenda."
Rodríguez asserted that both governments have made "significant advances" on issues such as the reopening of commercial airspace and the promotion of national and foreign investments in key sectors of the Venezuelan economy, particularly in oil, reported EFE.
"Let all the airlines that need to come, come. Let the investors that need to come, come," Rodríguez stated, highlighting that efforts are underway to lift restrictions on the airspace, which has been suspended since 2019, allowing for the entry of more airlines and foreign capital into the country.
The announcement coincided with statements from Trump, who also indicated that the airspace between the United States and Venezuela will soon be reopened, after years of suspension of direct flights between the two nations.
Rodríguez also noted that his government has recently welcomed representatives from transnational oil companies and other sectors from Europe, Asia, and various regions who are interested in investing in the country.
According to him, these meetings reflect the “renewed interest of global capital in the Venezuelan market.”
The official explained that one of the topics discussed has been the reform of the Hydrocarbons Law, approved this Thursday by the National Assembly with a chavista majority, which aims to provide greater legal security for international investments and facilitate the participation of private capital in the energy industry.
"We welcome both external and national investment for productive development in the areas of oil, gas, and petrochemicals," Rodríguez stated, emphasizing that the legislation aims to integrate all productive sectors "without exclusions."
The rapprochement occurs alongside the lifting of sanctions against the state oil company PDVSA, announced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, on the condition that the revenue is kept in accounts under U.S. jurisdiction.
Since the capture of Nicolás Maduro on January 3rd, the relationship between Caracas and Washington has undergone a remarkable shift.
The White House has expressed its interest in maintaining a direct dialogue with the current Venezuelan authorities to explore economic opportunities, particularly in the energy sector
https://en.cibercuba.com/noticias/2026-01-30-u1-e135253-s27061-nid319654-delcy-rodriguez-confirma-contacto-directo-trump#google_vignetteUS reduces Venezuela sanctions after oil sector reforms
The United States on Thursday eased sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry after Venezuelan lawmakers passed reforms paving the way for US companies to return – a key goal of President Donald Trump's intervention in the country.
Within an hour of lawmakers in Caracas voting to open the oil industry to private investment, the US Treasury Department issued a general license allowing US companies to trade with state oil firm PDVSA.
The activities authorized include the refining of oil, the license said.
Addressing oil industry workers, Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez hailed the reform as a "historical leap."
"We are taking historic steps," Rodriguez said after a call with Trump, who also announced the reopening of Venezuela's airspace.
- 'For the future' -
Trump pressured Caracas to open up its oil fields to American investors after overthrowing his socialist arch-foe Nicolas Maduro in a deadly US raid on January 3.
The US president backed Maduro's deputy Rodriguez to take over, on the proviso that she give Washington access to the world's largest proven oil reserves.
Rodriguez has appeared eager to comply with his demands, arguing that an influx of foreign capital is needed to revive the battered Venezuelan economy.
The reform adopted Thursday paves the way for the return of US energy majors, two decades after socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez seized foreign oil fields.
It modifies a law dating to 2006 that forced foreign investors to form joint ventures with state oil company PDVSA, which insisted on a majority stake.
Jorge Rodriguez, head of parliament and brother of Venezuela's new acting president, said the reform will help the country recover from years of living under US sanctions.
"Only good things will come after the suffering," he said as he gavelled through the law "for history, for the future."
Trump has said Washington is now "in charge" of Venezuela and Rodriguez will be "turning over" millions of barrels of oil to be sold at market price.
Rodriguez has already ploughed $300 million from a first US sale of Venezuelan crude into shoring up the country's struggling currency, the bolivar.
- Slow recovery -
Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world's oil reserves.
It was once a major crude supplier to the United States, and multiple American firms operated in the country until 2007, when Chavez led a new wave of nationalizations.
The industry is undergoing a slow recovery after being walloped by years of underinvestment, corruption, mismanagement and six years of US sanctions.
It reached production of 1.2 million barrels per day in 2025, a milestone compared to the 300,000 per day extracted in 2020, but far from the 3 million achieved at the start of the century.
Trump, who has lavished praise on Rodriguez, has been pressing oil executives to invest in Venezuela.
Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips exited in 2007 after refusing to cede majority control to the state.
Chevron is the only US firm still operating in Venezuela, under a special sanctions exemption.
The revised law offers greater guarantees to private players, relinquishes state control of exploration, and lowers taxes and royalties.
"This obviously completely dismantles Hugo Chavez's oil model," said oil analyst Francisco Monaldi, while pointing out that the state will retain some discretion over the issuing of contracts to private players.
- New fields -
The US Department of Energy has already unveiled a plan to develop Venezuela's oil industry and begun marketing Venezuelan crude.
Rodriguez says the reform will bring money for "new fields, to fields where there has never been investment, and to fields where there is no infrastructure."
The changes are cause for optimism for many in a country battling economic collapse and mass emigration.
"This hydrocarbons reform helps restore our dignity," Karina Rodriguez, a 53-year-old PDVSA employee told a recent rally.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/us-eases-venezuela-sanctions-oil-235901270.htmlVenezuela’s interim government has agreed to submit a monthly “budget” to the Trump administration, which will release money from an account funded by the country’s oil sales and initially managed by Qatar, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/us/politics/rubio-hearing-venezuela.htmlUpdate
>>2671411So all that sound and fury about how targeting leadership doesn't work, and Venezuela is folding like a lawn chair?
Venezuela: Creditors Hunger for 170B Debt Renegotiation
Venezuela is looking to access $4.9 billion in IMF-issued special drawing rights. (Xinhua)
Caracas, January 28, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – International creditors have shown growing optimism to collect on defaulted Venezuelan debt in the wake of the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro.
According to Bloomberg, the volume of Venezuelan bonds traded increased tenfold since the start of the year. Securities have rallied to around 40 cents on the dollar, having hit lows of 1.5 cents on the dollar in the past.
A combination of defaulted bonds, unpaid loans and arbitration awards is estimated to total up to US $170 billion after years of accruing interest. The Maduro government began defaulting on debt service in 2017 as US sanctions crippled the Caribbean nation’s economy and ultimately blocked financial transactions altogether.
The Venezuelan Creditor Committee (VCC) expressed “readiness” to discuss a debt restructuring deal when authorized. The group brings together creditors including GMO, Greylock Capital, Mangart Capital, and Morgan Stanley, which hold over $10 billion in sovereign and state oil company PDVSA bonds.
Elias Ferrer Breda, financial analyst and director of Orinoco Research, told Venezuelanalysis that the “enthusiasm” means creditors feel a debt restructuring deal is “closer,” but warned that any agreement will hinge on US recognition of the Venezuelan government.
“The recognition, along with the lifting of primary sanctions, is the final obstacle,” he said. “There have been steps to reopen the US embassy in Caracas and a Venezuelan delegation headed by Félix Plasencia also visited DC.”
The first Trump administration recognized the self-proclaimed “interim government” led by Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate authority in 2019, prompting Caracas to break diplomatic relations. After the parallel Guaidó administration dissolved in 2022, Washington transferred the recognition to the opposition-majority National Assembly whose term expired in 2021.
The small group of US-backed politicians retains control over Venezuelan-owned assets in the US. For its part, the Venezuelan government headed by Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has advocated a renewed diplomatic engagement with Washington. The two administrations have taken steps to reopen the respective embassies.
Ferrer, who also directs the Guacamaya media outlet, suggested that the State Department has no immediate plans to change its formal recognition of the defunct parliament.
“However, there is a de facto recognition of the Rodríguez acting government being built,” he went on to add. “This will become de jure sooner or later; it could be a few months or even a couple of years.”
Venezuela’s inability to sustain debt service, including settlements with creditors, as a result of sanctions, saw many corporations pursue legal avenues to collect. Crystallex, ConocoPhillips and several other companies are set to benefit from the proceeds of the forced judicial auction of Venezuela’s US-based refiner CITGO.
Washington’s formal recognition of the Rodríguez acting administration could also pave the way for Venezuela to access about $4.9 billion in “special drawing rights” issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF created the liquidity instruments in 2021 to help governments deal with the Covid-19 pandemic but blocked Venezuela from accessing its share as it followed Trump’s lead in not recognizing the Nicolás Maduro government.
According to reports, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently held meetings with the heads of the IMF and the World Bank to discuss a possible re-engagement with the South American country.
For their part, Venezuelan authorities have expressed a willingness to engage with creditors in the past, but US sanctions preempted any meaningful engagement.
Caracas’ debt also includes long-term oil-for-loan agreements with China. However, with Washington’s naval blockade recently blocking China-bound crude shipments, Beijing has reportedly sought assurances of the repayment of debts estimated at $10-20 billion.
Rubio Defends US Military Operation, Praises Venezuela Oil Reform
Caracas, January 29, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the Trump administration’s January 3 attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro during a Senate hearing on Wednesday.
“[Having Maduro in power] was an enormous strategic risk for the United States,“ Rubio said in his testimony to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. “It was an untenable situation, and it had to be addressed.”
The Trump official claimed that the military operation aimed to “aid law enforcement” and did not constitute an act of war. He likewise emphasized the White House’s concern about Venezuela allegedly being a “base of operations” for US geopolitical rivals Iran, Russia, and China.
Rubio faced criticism from multiple senators, with Rand Paul arguing that the White House would consider a similar attack directed against the US as an act of war. Despite widespread criticism from Democrats and a handful of Republicans, efforts to pass War Powers resolutions have been narrowly defeated in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty to charges including drug trafficking conspiracy in a New York federal court on January 5. US officials have never presented evidence tying high-ranking Venezuelan leaders to narcotics activities, and specialized agencies have consistently found the Caribbean nation to play a marginal role in global drug trafficking.
The Venezuelan government, led by Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, has repeatedly denounced the US attack and demanded the release of Maduro and Flores. At the same time, Rodríguez and other officials have advocated for renewed diplomatic engagement to settle “differences” with Washington.
The January 3 strikes, which killed 100 people, have drawn widespread condemnation in Latin America and beyond. A recent Progressive International summit in Colombia called for a joint regional response against US aggression.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Rubio reiterated the US government’s plans to control the Venezuelan oil sector and impose conditions on the acting Rodríguez administration. He added that the White House is seeking stability in the South American country ahead of a “democratic transition.”
Rubio additionally confirmed that Washington is administering Venezuelan oil sales, with proceeds deposited in US-controlled bank accounts in Qatar before a portion is rerouted to Caracas. He added that at some point the funds will run through Treasury Department accounts in the United States.
Democratic senators questioned the legality and transparency of the present arrangement. The Secretary of State further claimed that Caracas would need to submit a “budget request” before accessing its funds.
The initial deal reportedly comprised some 50 million barrels of oil, worth around $2 billion, that had accumulated due to a US naval blockade of Venezuelan exports. After a reported $300 million were turned over to Venezuelan private banks last week, the Venezuelan Central Bank announced that a further $200 million will be made available in early February.
Venezuelan banks are offering the foreign currency in auction to customers, with officials vowing priority for imports in the food and healthcare sectors.
According to Reuters, the US Treasury Department is preparing a general license to allow select corporations to engage in oil dealings with Caracas. Since 2017, the Venezuelan oil industry has been under wide-reaching unilateral coercive measures, including financial sanctions, an export embargo, and secondary sanctions.
In his address, Rubio went on to state that Venezuelan authorities “deserve credit for eradicating Chávez-era restrictions on private investment” in the oil industry, in reference to a recent overhaul of the country’s 2001 Hydrocarbons preliminarily approved last week. He added that a portion of oil revenues will be used for imports from US manufacturers.
On Tuesday, Acting President Rodríguez announced during a televised broadcast that Venezuela was importing medical equipment from the US using “unblocked funds.”
The Venezuelan leader emphasized the importance of relations based on mutual respect with the US and rejected claims that her government is subject to dictates from foreign actors. She affirmed that there are open “communication channels” with the Trump administration and collaboration with Rubio on a “working agenda.”
The acting authorities in Caracas have sought to promote a significant rebound of crude production by offering expanded benefits to private investors as part of the reform bill. Expected to be finally approved in the coming days, the new law abrogates provisions introduced under former President Hugo Chávez to ensure majority state control over the oil sector in favor of flexible arrangements granting substantial autonomy to corporate partners.
>>2671491>>2671491Venezuela hasnt folded at all.
>>2671502how big's the cope, bro?
>>2671503Amerikans are the ones coping. That is why they spam fake imperialist news. every time they say interim government and that delcy, maduro chosen successor, is amerikan approved. Venezuela maintains proletarian dominated heights of production that is why proletarian uphold venezuela socialist government
https://spanish.news.cn/20260130/44698b060428488db70171808b083334/c.html >>2671508thank you for revealing you are That Guy, sir
>>2671548Ukrofascists are getting btfo. Venezuela is still free. Only an imperialist would spam imperialist news in effort to deny these facts. Venezuelan workers support hydrocarbon reform so you are the one coping
It’s going to be funny af if they fail to prosecute Maduro
>>2671548I was one of the "Kiev in three days" retards. So much whiplash from "Russia won't invade cause it isn't like the US" to " In weeks" to "Putin is a humanitarian" lmao
>>2671508Those reforms are for privatisation you dumb fucking moron, that the cucks in power support it is obvious. Fuck off.
>>2662842Why would the US speak favorably about a foreign nation if the had no control over it? They cucked out. Fucking CIA can wander freely about now so I guess its a win a for multipolarity actually /s. Stop coping. Also communists should get their head out of their ass and openly start critiquing Cucktin and others, because if this continues and more Nations fall in line than those that already do, then "multipolarity" was nothing but a short term fluke in a world with a US hegemony that will continue in the current century. Disappointed in Vijay honestly, he should know better.
it's legit so over, i dont believe Venezuela or Cuba to be socialist but at the very least they were left wing resistence on the same continent of America and they're getting wiped. there will be no resistence in the backyard and anybody who tries will meet the same fate. the last 5-6 years pulled socialism 60-70 years back
>>2671502>Venezuela hasnt folded at all.Mate, come on. I was one of the ones doing a daily failure report for Trump, but at a certain point, you have to realize that the imperialist flexing of muscle has terrified the remaining Ven leadership into giving the US what it wants.
>>2671721>the last 5-6 years pulled socialism 60-70 years backthese things have more to do with the fall of the USSR than with anything thats happened in the last 6 years, the moment we went back 60-70 years was 1991 not now
these projects failed to articulate a bigger movement anyways, maybe a new start is needed, this whole thing works in "cycles", history zig zags
>>2672346Literally proved him right lol
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