The Trump administration would love to make a deal with a reliable Venezuelan leader
The State Department has declared Venezuela a “major drug-transit country” and a key corridor for illegal drugs entering the United States.
In addition to its role as a drug dealer, Venezuela’s oppressive dictatorship has driven hundreds of thousands of citizens to flee their failed homeland and become illegal immigrants in the US.
Political instability has led to significant financial disputes and the near-total disruption of oil exports.
Venezuela still owes US oil giant ConocoPhillips nearly $9 billion in damages stemming from the expropriation of the company’s Venezuelan oil assets by Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s predecessor, in 2007. Both Chavez and Maduro fired oil industry executives and workers in a series of labor disputes, triggering a brain drain and a precipitous 75% drop in oil production over the past 20 years. Venezuela still holds the world’s largest known untapped oil reserves. The Trump administration would love to make a deal with a reliable Venezuelan leader to unlock this potential.
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