On Tuesday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) called for the United States to set a date for elections in Venezuela and touted July 24, 2027 as a date and argued that having elections will ensure that Venezuelan oil production reaches its potential, something it can’t do with Delcy Rodriguez in power.
Gimenez said, “He’s sitting down with her, but I call on the president to set a date for elections. And Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), over the weekend, had a great date, which is July 24 of 2027, which is Simón Bolívar’s birthday. That would be a great day. It would be celebrated in Venezuela. And then we could finally have a Venezuela that could be an ally of the United States, with a true, democratically-elected government, which is what the people of Venezuela deserve. And also, it’s in the best interest of the United States.”
He added that the “spoils” of the country should go to Venezuela’s people.
Gimenez further stated, “Well, look, the problem with the Venezuelan oil industry is that, because of the last 25 years and the failure of socialism and Communism down there, they are nowhere close to reaching their potential as far as energy production. They needed massive investments from the United States, but that massive investment from the United States needs to be with a stable, democratically-elected government. Yeah, we have this deal now with this particular regime, alright. That’s why we need to move forward, as quickly as possible, to call for elections, have those elections, and then deal with the democratically-elected government of Venezuela. Then companies, from around the world, including the United States, can then have confidence in investing billions of dollars in Venezuelan infrastructure that’s needed in order for Venezuela to actually see the fruits and actually tap into the resources that it has and reach its full potential. With this particular regime, it’ll never do that, because there will be a lot of companies that will be hesitant to deal with this regime, because, remember, this is the same regime that Nicolas Maduro had. This is just an interim dictator, Delcy Rodriguez.”
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