LEILA FADEL, HOST:
President Trump announced the U.S. will be taking majority control of more than 65 billion barrels worth of Venezuela's oil reserves.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Trump says the deal with Venezuela's unelected government will help lower gas prices. It's not clear, though, if or when that might happen. And it comes as Trump struggles domestically and can't seem to get out of an unpopular war with Iran. It's also raising new questions. The biggest one, what happens to democracy in Venezuela?
FADEL: For more on the agreement, we have NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Good morning.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: OK. So the headline is big oil deal reached between the U.S. and Venezuela. What's in the fine print?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, Leila. I mean, specifics are really scarce. But a U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly about the deal told me that the U.S. government is entering a joint venture with a private company in Venezuela. The U.S. has not named that company. But through this venture, the U.S. would effectively control 55% of the venture's output through a combination of equity ownership and access to oil at cost. But as you said, no info about how long this will take. And it really could take a long time, considering how rundown the Venezuela system is.
FADEL: We mentioned the questions about the future of democracy in Venezuela. How serious is that concern?
ORDOÑEZ: I mean, it's very real and a growing concern. After the U.S. captured then Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this year, the administration outlined a three-phase strategy for Venezuela. And it started with stabilization, then it went to reviving the economy, and then it was supposed to move to a third phase of transition and new elections. Well, this deal throws all of that into question. I was talking with Benjamin Gedan, who led the Venezuela portfolio in the Obama White House. And he says this really has the potential for a fundamental change in what Washington actually wants out of Venezuela.
BENJAMIN GEDAN: On that long list of U.S. considerations, democracy, we believe, was always the kind of guiding principle for U.S. policy. And now it has fallen either very low down that list or off that list entirely.
ORDOÑEZ: And Gedan said that Trump is signing basically a long-term oil arrangement that will largely depend on the current regime staying in power.
FADEL: Let's talk about Venezuela's interim president. Delcy Rodríguez is also touting this deal. On Saturday, she called it a win for her country. Is it a win?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. I mean, it's very complicated. I mean, there's no question that Venezuela badly needs investment into its oil industry, which is producing well below its historic production levels. I mean, the U.S. would also benefit from greater access to Venezuela oil. But what are the political costs? I mean, we're already seeing big pushback out of Venezuela, as well as in south Florida, in Miami, that the U.S. is basically taking part of Venezuelan sovereignty, while also legitimizing an unelected government.
FADEL: What about risks for the U.S., political, economic?
ORDOÑEZ: One of the reasons the U.S. is doing this is because big companies were slow to invest, and that's because Venezuela has been an unreliable partner. I mean, the Exxon Mobil CEO actually went so far as calling Venezuela uninvestable. And politically, it just feeds a longstanding criticism of this idea of an imperialist America that is only interested in Latin America for its natural resources. And experts like Gedan argue that it's a recipe for another anti-American revolution, the kind that brought Hugo Chávez to power and who nationalized the oil industry decades ago.
FADEL: That's NPR's White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Thank you, Franco.
ORDOÑEZ: Thank you, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
