The Trump administration has announced a deal granting the United States an effective 55 percent stake in a new Venezuela oil venture, negotiated with the country’s interim government months after the U.S. military operation that removed Nicolás Maduro. Cato’s Ian Vásquez released the following statement in response:

Everything about the announced U.S.-Venezuela oil deal is troublesome: the lack of details and transparency; the fact that the Trump administration is expanding state corporatism abroad and that the U.S. government will have a majority stake in a major oil business with a partner widely viewed by Venezuelans and internationally as notoriously corrupt; the lack of legitimacy that results from working with the socialist dictatorship; the questionable legality of the deal in the U.S. and Venezuela; the sidelining of the legitimate democratic opposition and strengthening of the dictatorship; the resulting incentives by the regime and the U.S. to keep delaying a transition to democracy; and the erroneous idea that an imperial resource grab makes any economic sense.

The United States is losing the tremendous amount of goodwill it had among Venezuelans who are increasingly viewing the deal as a betrayal of democracy. Ironically, the Trump administration could have achieved a Venezuelan oil sector completely open to U.S. investment in a way that enjoyed widespread legitimacy by working with Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the opposition, on a democratic transition. It’s not too late for the U.S. to do so and achieve Venezuelan reforms that are far-reaching and durable.

If you’d like to speak with Ian Vasquez, please contact Cato PR at pr@​cato.​org.