The Trump administration has collected over $13 billion from Venezuelan oil sales this year but has offered conflicting and limited accounts of where the money has gone.
US Controls Venezuela’s Oil Money — But Where Is It?
Washington took control of Venezuela’s oil exports after capturing President Nicolás Maduro in January and installing Delcy Rodríguez as leader, according to a Financial Times report by Geoff Dyer, Chris Cook and Ana Rodríguez Brazón, which calculated the $13bn figure using shipment data from Kpler and pricing from Argus Media.
Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro told the FT that Congress was being “kept in the dark,” while the administration has variously described its role as “custodial” or boasted, via Trump, of “making a lot of money.”
The State Department told the FT that “billions of dollars have been disbursed to the Venezuelan economy,” though Venezuela’s own tracking website lists just one $300 million transfer since March.
The stakes have risen since the June 24 earthquakes, which the UN estimates caused $37 billion in infrastructure damage, per the report.
NEWS NOW:
