MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Has anyone talked about democracy? No”: OEI secretary criticizes Trump's oil-driven approach to Venezuela

The Trump administration has implemented a series of measures to facilitate US investment in Venezuela's energy sector

The secretary general of the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI), Mariano Jabonero, said that US President Donald Trump's primary interest in Venezuela is energy-related and has nothing to do with promoting democratic values or civilization.

“In Venezuela, I have always thought that President Trump is concerned about one thing that is not education — what he cares about is oil,” Jabonero told EFE at the OEI headquarters in Asunción, Paraguay's capital, where he is on a two-day visit. “Has anyone talked about civilization in Venezuela? About democracy? No,” he added.

The remarks by the Spanish official, who has led the OEI since 2018 and was reelected in 2022 for a term ending this year, come at a time when the relationship between Washington and Caracas has revolved explicitly around oil since the capture of Nicolás Maduro on January 3.

A relationship defined by crude

Following the US military intervention in Caracas and three neighboring states, which left around one hundred dead according to official figures, Delcy Rodríguez assumed power as interim president and quickly strengthened ties with Washington. Trump has openly described the relationship with Venezuela as a petroleum “joint venture.”

“We are now working side by side with Venezuela — we are, in the strictest sense of the word, partners in a joint venture,” Trump declared in a televised address to the nation on April 1, in which he also stated that the United States is now “totally independent from the Middle East” thanks to Venezuelan crude.

The Trump administration has implemented a series of measures to facilitate US investment in Venezuela's energy sector. In January, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a general license authorizing US-incorporated companies to sell Venezuelan oil to buyers worldwide. In February, the State Department announced it was “rapidly implementing President Trump's vision to reopen and develop Venezuela's oil industry.” And on April 1, OFAC removed Rodríguez from the list of sanctioned Venezuelan officials, clearing a key obstacle for Caracas to regain control of its assets on US soil.

Venezuela holds one of the world's largest proven oil reserves, but production has plummeted over the past decades from more than three million barrels per day to approximately one million, equivalent to roughly 1% of global output. Much of that heavy, hard-to-process crude was exported to China before the rapprochement with Washington.

Trump met in January with the heads of major US oil companies at the White House to discuss how to “quickly rebuild Venezuela's deteriorated oil infrastructure.” In a private event whose footage was later leaked, the president went so far as to claim that the United States now controls “59% of the world's oil.”

Rodríguez's interim government, for its part, approved a new hydrocarbons law and is debating a mining law, though environmental and human rights organizations have warned that mining licenses could facilitate the laundering of illegal gold from areas controlled by criminal networks.