The administration of US President Donald Trump is demanding that Venezuela's current leader, Delcy Rodríguez, abandon economic ties with a number of countries, including China, russia, Iran and Cuba, ABC News reports, citing sources.
According to three people with knowledge of the Trump administration's plans, Venezuela must fulfill the White House's demands before the country is allowed to produce more oil, including:
- Venezuela must expel China, russia, Iran and Cuba and cut economic ties.
- The country should agree to cooperate exclusively with the United States in the field of oil production and give preference to America in the sale of heavy crude oil.
In addition, according to one source, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in a closed-door meeting on January 5 that he believes the United States can force Venezuela to make concessions because its oil tankers are already full. Rubio also told lawmakers that the US estimates that Caracas has only a few weeks left before it becomes financially insolvent without selling its oil reserves.
In an interview with the publication, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker confirmed that the US plan depends on control of Venezuela's oil. He said that he did not believe that this would require the deployment of US troops:
"The government does intend to control the oil, taking charge of the ships, the tankers, and none of them are going to go to Havana," Wicker said. "And until they start moving -- we hope to the open market - there are no more tankers to fill, because they're totally full."
The White House did not deny this information. A senior administration official said:
"The President is speaking about exerting maximum leverage with the remaining elements in Venezuela and ensuring they cooperate with the United States by halting illegal migration, stopping drug flows, revitalizing oil infrastructure, and doing what is right for the Venezuelan people."
Wicker told ABC News that Venezuela no longer has tankers to transport additional oil.
"The information I have is that Venezuela cannot pump anymore crude oil because there's no place to put it and there's no place to send it. The tankers are full and waiting to move to an appropriate place, hopefully to be sold with open market other than to be [given] free to China," he said.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, Reuters sources earlier said that the Trump administration plans to meet with the heads of leading US oil companies to discuss increasing oil production in Venezuela.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Celia Flores had visible head injuries during their appearance in court on January 5. Representatives of the Donald Trump administration told lawmakers that they sustained them by hitting their heads while fleeing from US troops who were trying to arrest them.
Earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Beijing would not accept any country claiming to be "world judge" after the United States seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
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