Washington, May 27 (IANS) President Donald Trump on Wednesday described Venezuela as an emerging strategic partner of the United States, saying the South American nation was rapidly becoming a major energy supplier to America after years of strained relations and sanctions.
Speaking during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump said Venezuela’s oil industry was now being “professionalised for the first time ever” and claimed the country’s revenues were being protected from corruption through US oversight.
“We’re getting along very well with Venezuela,” Trump said. “It’s being run really beautifully.”
The President said Venezuela was moving through a “three-phase process” involving “stabilisation, recovery and transition”. He added that more than 10 million barrels of Venezuelan oil had been delivered to the United States since January 3.
According to Trump, revenues from Venezuelan oil sales are being deposited into accounts in the United States monitored by the Treasury Department and audited by KPMG.
“For the first time ever, the money is not being stolen,” Trump said. “It’s going to the benefit of the Venezuelan people.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Venezuela had also become an important partner in Washington’s regional security and energy strategy.
“Venezuela is a big part of securing our energy future and defending the homeland,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth said the US Southern Command had recently landed “peacefully” at the American embassy in Venezuela and described the relationship as part of a broader effort to counter cartels and stabilise the Western Hemisphere.
Linking Venezuela’s oil production to global energy stability amid tensions involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, he argued that expanded production from the United States and Venezuela would help lower fuel prices worldwide.
“We have more oil now being produced by double, by two times than Russia and Saudi Arabia combined,” Trump said.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the administration’s energy policies had accelerated domestic and regional production. He credited Trump’s “energy dominance strategy” for boosting revenues, increasing lease sales, and expanding drilling operations across public lands.
Burgum also said Venezuelan crude flowing to refineries on the US Gulf Coast was helping stabilise petrol prices.
“It’s an amazing transformation,” Burgum said. “The centre of geopolitics around energy has moved from other parts of the world to the Western Hemisphere.”
Trump contrasted the administration’s Venezuela policy with his criticism of Cuba, which he described as “run by a bunch of incompetent communists”. He said Washington remained concerned about instability in Cuba because of its proximity to the United States.
The President also said major companies were beginning to return to Venezuela’s energy sector, predicting the country would become “amazing” because of its natural resources.
Venezuela holds some of the world’s largest proven oil reserves, but years of sanctions, political instability, and economic collapse have sharply reduced production and exports. The country has increasingly become part of broader geopolitical competition involving energy supplies, sanctions policy, and regional influence in Latin America.
–IANS
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