The president of the United States Donald J. Trump assured this Monday that he is more popular than any other politician in Venezuela, whose government has already delivered “100 million barrels of crude oil”, which more than paid for the military operation that removed drug dictator Nicolás Maduro from power.
“In the polls I am higher than anyone (…) in Venezuela. So, when I finish this, I will be able to go to Venezuela,” he declared at a press conference at the White House.
“I’m going to run for president of Venezuela,” Trump jokingly told reporters at the White House.
“We have a partner with Venezuela. More than 100 million barrels (of oil) are already in Houston,” he assured.
That Venezuelan crude “paid, more than enough, for the operation we carried out in January,” he added, alluding to the military operation that removed Maduro and his wife from power and the country.
Iranians: “radical fanatics”
Trump made these statements to compare the current situation with Venezuela with respect to the attitude of the Iranian government in the current war in the Middle East.
The current leaders in Tehran are radical “fanatics”, compared to the Venezuelan leaders, he indicated.
In less than three months, Washington has lifted a large part of the sanctions against Caracas, mainly those directed against the energy sector, to encourage investments and help the reconstruction of the oil industry.
In return, the country’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, who took office after the fall of Maduro, quickly undertook a series of economic reforms, such as opening the hydrocarbon sector to foreign investment, highly praised by Trump.
Venezuelan oil can currently leave the country under the supervision of Washington, which collects the profits from that sale and deposits them in a bank account outside both countries, to control how it is spent.
