US President Donald Trump said Venezuela will hand over up to 50 million barrels of oil, the latest sign of the new leadership in Caracas seeking to placate the White House.
Venezuela’s government has criticized the Trump administration after the US captured its leader Nicolás Maduro to stand trial on narco-trafficking charges, yet has also taken conciliatory steps: Along with the oil-sale deal, the country’s new president Delcy Rodríguez is open to granting US companies rights to explore Venezuela’s oil fields.
But Rodríguez faces pressure from a regime that has long opposed the US and which is mostly still intact. “She’s sandwiched between US firepower and Venezuelan firepower,” one expert told The Wall Street Journal. “She can’t kowtow too much.”
