Trump administration expands energy ties in Venezuela amid economic crisis

CARACAS, Venezuela. — Venezuelans are seeing signs of renewed U.S. involvement in their country as the Trump administration pursues energy deals tied to the nation’s vast oil reserves.

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“Relations are better,” Caracas business owner Raul Rosales said in Spanish. “They want fuel, they have to pay.”

Gasoline in Venezuela has long been heavily subsidized, costing the equivalent of less than $2 per gallon, but the fuel industry is now drawing renewed attention from the United States.

President Donald Trump said this week, “We have a great joint venture with Venezuela.”

With ex-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro no longer at the center of negotiations, attention has shifted toward Venezuelan Interim President Delcy Rodriguez, as the country struggles with a worsening economy and growing public frustration.

At the Marriott hotel in an upscale section of Caracas, U.S. oil investors and government officials have recently been staying there while negotiating deals. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has met with Rodriguez, while attorneys and consultants have traveled to survey oil fields.

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The top floor of the hotel is temporarily serving as a U.S. Embassy office while the official embassy compound nearby undergoes renovations after sitting empty for seven years.

“People here (are) feeling that the revolution is a huge lie because our quality of life is under the ground,” political communications consultant Pablo Quintero said.

Quintero said increased U.S. involvement has weakened the Venezuelan government’s long-standing political messaging.

“The government lose, the propaganda lose, the message lose the control of narrative of public opinion,” he said.

Many Venezuelans, he said, are less focused on politics than on daily survival.

“People here don’t care about Donald Trump, don’t care about Delcy Rodriguez, people are on survival mode,” Quintero said. “Survival mode all day.”

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