US Treasury officials meet with interim Venezuelan president

CARACAS – Senior US Treasury Department officials met with interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez on Aug 10, as the instability of the country’s electrical grid threatens US plans to increase oil production in the South American country.

Seven months after the United States deposed former leader Nicolas Maduro in a military raid, Rodriguez runs Venezuela under strong pressure from US President Donald Trump, who wants to take charge of the country’s oil industry.

According to a statement from the Venezuelan presidency, Rodriguez met on Aug 10 with US Under Secretary for International Affairs Jonathan Greenstein and Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Jonathan Burke.

During the meeting, they discussed “the pursuit of stability in the energy market and the reactivation of financial mechanisms”, the presidential office said in a readout.

Venezuela sits on the world's largest proven oil reserves, but its current production of one million barrels of crude per day falls far short of the three million it averaged decades ago, with experts attributing the decline to years of corruption and mismanagement.

Venezuela’s government, which remains under control of the ruling Chavista party, attributes the harm to sanctions imposed by the United States.

Although Washington has eased the sanctions since Maduro’s fall – including an embargo against trading Venezuelan crude – it maintains sharp oversight and control of the process. AFP