The visit to Venezuela of the North American Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, has left two clear winners with a very unequal distribution. On the one hand, and predictably, the Donald Trump Administration, which, after the displacement of Nicolás Maduro from poweris considered the architect of the first sales of Venezuelan oil for 1,000 million dollars. Wright prophesied that in a short time those numbers will quintuple. Washington has also softened the sanctions to the energy sector. The “president in charge”, Delcy Rodríguez, also had her reasons to celebrate. He lavished smiles on the republican magnate’s envoy and, at the same time, in the context of his tour, which promises to be just the beginning of a recurring presence, he allowed himself certain gestures of hardening towards the toughest sectors of the opposition, led by María Corina Machado. Rodríguez warned the leader that she will have to “respond” in Caracas for her political positions in line with the US military intervention. At the same time, his brother Jorge, president of the National Assembly (AN), outright ruled out elections within a short period of time, while the ruling party has pressed the brakes on the amnesty law. The promised speed is no longer such and next week an initiative could be enacted that has a problematic article: the recognition of the beneficiaries that they committed a crime against the State, something that the opposition, even the moderate one, is not willing to accept.
These episodes occurred with Wright in Venezuela. “We are working on a very rapid agenda to consolidate binational cooperation,” said the host. In a video she is seen wearing a red helmet. Trump’s envoy wears a white helmet. They both went to an American field Chevrona company that will make new investments of 100 million dollars. Its association with the state PDVSAhe said, is “extraordinary.” Wright has a mandate from the billionaire: the South American country must recover production levels prior to the era of Hugo Chavez and Maduro, three million barrels per day. The protection of this transformation includes income, as highlighted by the Secretary of Energy. “An account was created in Qatar, controlled by the United States Government at all times, to deposit that money and then send it from there to Venezuela. Now we have an account in the United States Treasury.” This control will be maintained until Venezuelans elect “a representative government.” And that, as he said Jorge Rodriguezit won’t happen in the short term.
Wright was packing his bags when the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s decision to issue two high-impact general licenses was announced. One of them will allow global companies Chevron, BP, Eni, Shell and Repsol resume their oil and gas operations. The other license makes it easier for companies around the world to enter into contracts for new investments in Venezuelan oil and gas on the condition that no transactions will be carried out with companies from Russia, Iran or China.
Harassment
Wright recalled that Washington has designed a road map for Venezuela: ““Stabilization, recovery and reconciliation, and transition”. For now, oil is the most dynamic factor in relations and the issue that sets the pace of progress. Although the Secretary of Energy recalled that the agenda is not only economic, but political, So far Washington has not made any comment on Rodríguez’s words.
The “president in charge” participated in a student mobilization and highlighted their “diversity.” However, that breadth has a limit. The president of the Federation of University Centers (FCU) of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), Miguelangel Suárez, reported a chase by a private vehicle after participating in a demonstration at the university to demand the freedom of political prisoners. The NGO A World Without Gag and the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners denounced this Friday a strong deployment of security forces in the vicinity of a detention center, something that had not been happening. The intensification of the presence of uniformed officers takes place after the deadline announced by Jorge Rodríguez to finalize the release of those detained in said center expired.
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