Wall Street Journal: The substance of the agreement appears to be in direct conflict with Venezuela’s 1999 constitution, which states that the country’s oil reserves belong to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and can’t be sold. Critics say Venezuela’s current government, populated by unelected officials kept in power by the Trump administration, has no legal authority to sell the country’s oil rights…
‘A New Form of U.S. Colonialism’: Venezuelans Bristle at U.S. Oil Takeover
“Obviously, the United States comes out ahead, enormously so,” he said. But “the Americans hold the power,” he said, and without them “we won’t manage to break free from the socialism of Chávez and Maduro. Without them, we’ll remain trapped like Cuba, China, or North Korea.”
“It’s not that I love it or even like it,” he said of the deal. “I consider it a necessary evil. If we manage to escape this entire disaster — which we’ve endured for 27 years and the Cubans for 68 — if we manage to get out of this mess, then even though I don’t like it, it will be worth it.”…
Trump’s Venezuelan Oil Deal Relies on a Powerful and Divisive Partner
Mr. Betancourt, 46, rose to prominence in the 2010s, when the Venezuelan government awarded him and his partners contracts to build numerous power plants across the country even though they had no experience doing that work. The deals earned the investors the moniker “bolichicos,” meaning the “Bolivarian boys,” a reference to the new cohort of businessmen who profited from the government so-called Bolivarian Revolution…