US President Donald Trump is ready to meet with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez, AFP reports. According to Reuters, Rodriguez said on Sunday that her government must retain power in order to defend the country.
After intervention in Venezuela, Trump hints at rapprochement with Caracas
“I’ll do it one day,” Trump replied on Sunday evening local time (early Monday morning CET) aboard Air Force One when asked by reporters if he would meet with Rodriguez. Washington now has a “really good” relationship with Caracas, he added.
On January 3, the Americans bombed several locations in Venezuela, and their special forces captured the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife in the presidential palace. The couple now faces drug smuggling charges in the US. According to Caracas, 100 people died in the American attack.
Tension over Venezuelan oil
After the attack, the Venezuelan Supreme Court appointed RodrÃguez to temporarily assume the powers of head of state. The media describe her as one of the most loyal figures in Maduro’s regime. Trump threatened her with further military intervention if she did not cooperate with the US, while she accused the United States of violating the UN Charter, attempting to overthrow the government, and trying to seize Venezuela’s oil reserves, which are the largest in the world.
Trump met with a group of senior executives from American and European oil companies on Friday. According to the White House chief, the United States will decide who will extract oil in Venezuela. On Sunday, he told reporters that he was considering denying American company ExxonMobil access to Venezuelan oil. “I didn’t like their response,” he explained.
Source: Reuters
