President Donald Trump announced during his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday night that the United States has received 80 million barrels of oil from the socialist rogue state of Venezuela this year, a development made possible by the arrest of its dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
Trump made the announcement during the introduction to his speech in which he enthusiastically declared that the state of the Union was “strong,” listing several achievements in what he called a “turnaround for the ages” that included a boom in American oil production and, as a result, plummeting gasoline prices.
“My fellow Americans, our nation is back bigger, better, richer, and stronger than ever before,” Trump proclaimed.
WATCH — President Trump Delivers State of the Union Address:
Regarding that nation’s oil supply, Trump told Congress, “American oil production is up by more than 600,000 barrels per day and we just received from our new friend and partner Venezuela more than 80 million barrels of oil.”
For the past two decades, the “Bolivarian socialist” regime in Venezuela has been one of America’s most aggressive enemies, allying with rivals such as Russia and China and engaging in a variety of rogue activities including drug trafficking and association with terrorists. Under former dictator Maduro, who ruled for about 13 years, Venezuela’s government itself became a drug trafficking operation via the Cartel of the Suns, a cocaine trafficking enterprise run through the Venezuelan armed forces.
As the Venezuelan regime invested in the wealth of its elite and its ties to narco-terrorists, the nation’s top industry before socialism, oil, collapsed. Venezuela is believed to be home to the world’s largest known oil reserves. As part of the imposition of socialism on the country, Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez, forced a large percentage of the nation’s oil engineers into exile or political prison, leaving the nation’s critical infrastructure, in particular its refineries, in disrepair.
President Trump approved a military operation on January 3 to enter Caracas and arrest Maduro and his wife, “first combatant” Cilia Flores. Both are facing a litany of criminal charges in a New York court for engaging in organized drug trafficking and narco-terrorism.
Following Maduro’s arrest, the nation was left in the hands of his vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, previously believed to be one of his most loyal ideologues and the daughter of a Marxist terrorist. While Rodríguez, for most of her career, acted as a belligerent mouthpiece for Maduro, Trump has repeatedly assured that he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been able to engage Rodríguez productively. In exchange for the release of political prisoners and no longer presenting a threat to America, Trump announced shortly after Maduro’s arrest that American oil companies would help rehabilitate Venezuela’s oil industry. In exchange, Venezuela would share its oil with the United States.
“The Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America,” Trump announced on January 6. “The Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!”
Trump’s announcement that Rodríguez’s Venezuela has already turned over 80 million barrels significantly exceeds the initial amount that Trump had appeared to negotiate following Maduro’s arrest. It also suggests that Rodríguez is cooperating with American authorities. While Rodríguez has made public demands for America to free Maduro and Flores – demands Trump has dismissed as necessary rhetoric for socialist loyalists – she has also cordially welcomed American officials to the country. Last week, Rodríguez welcomed Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the head of U.S. Southern Command, to the Venezuelan capital.
“The United States reaffirms its commitment to a free, secure, and prosperous Venezuela for the Venezuelan people, the United States, and the Western Hemisphere,” the American embassy in Caracas declared after that visit. “SOUTHCOM is committed to advancing the National Security Strategy by working with partner nations to build a secure and prosperous future for the hemisphere.”
Following Maduro’s arrest, Trump announced that Washington would “run” Venezuela, “essentially, until such time as a proper transition can take place.”
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