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🇦🇷 Argentina /Economy & Trade

María Corina Machado criticizes Venezuela-US oil agreement

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

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  • Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said the country needs far more than oil investment to rebuild and called for transparency around the agreement with the United States.
  • The deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump would give Washington 20% of Venezuela’s oil reserves, according to the terms described in the report.
  • Machado said oil resources should benefit Venezuelans and that any partnership must rest on legality, transparency and a legitimate democratic government.

María Corina Machado says Venezuela needs much more than money directed only to its oil industry. In a video recorded in exile and posted on X, the Venezuelan opposition leader acknowledged public concern about the oil agreement reached between the United States and the interim government of Delcy Rodríguez, but argued that oil represents only one part of the country’s vast reconstruction challenge.

Machado said Venezuela requires “colossal investments” across multiple sectors. Because of the country’s size and institutional fragility, she argued, no sector can function in isolation. She also stressed the geopolitical weight of Venezuela’s oil resources, saying they hold extraordinary strategic value for U.S. national security and hemispheric stability.

needs much more than money

· María Corina MachadoMachado said oil funding alone cannot address Venezuela’s reconstruction needs.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week that Washington had signed what he called a “historic” agreement with Venezuela. Under the terms described, the deal gives the United States 20% of Venezuela’s huge oil reserves and control over 65 billion barrels spread across 17 fields. Caracas estimates the agreement could generate $200 billion in benefits over the next 25 years.

The wealth beneath our soil does not belong to an illegitimate regime, it belongs to the Venezuelan people.

· María Corina MachadoShe argued that Venezuelans, rather than an illegitimate government, should benefit from the country’s resources.

Machado’s central objection concerns who controls and benefits from those resources. “The wealth beneath our soil does not belong to an illegitimate regime, it belongs to the Venezuelan people,” she said. She referred to the government palace in Miraflores when asserting that Venezuela’s enemies of the United States are there, while also defending a close partnership with Washington.

She said the relationship must operate on “the non-negotiable principles of absolute transparency, legality and efficiency” and produce a mutually beneficial arrangement. In her view, those conditions require the legitimacy and stability of a serious democratic government.

the non-negotiable principles of absolute transparency, legality and efficiency

· María Corina MachadoShe listed the conditions she said should govern the partnership with Washington.
About this summary

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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