US unblocks Venezuelan assets – interim president
The US has unfrozen some of Venezuela’s impounded assets, acting President Delcy Rodriguez has announced. Rodriguez said the money will be spent on hospital equipment and power infrastructure.
Speaking on national television on Tuesday, Rodriguez said she had spoken to US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio with “respect and courtesy,” and that the unblocked funds would be used to purchase hospital equipment from the US “and other countries.”
“We are unblocking Venezuelan resources that belong to the Venezuelan people… and this will allow us to invest significant resources in equipment for hospitals,” she said. Rodriguez added that Venezuela will also purchase “equipment for the electricity sector and equipment for the gas industry” with the funds.
Rodriguez did not say what amount of assets would be released. President Nicolas Maduro claimed in 2022 that around $30 billion worth of Venezuelan assets were frozen abroad. These include oil impounded by the US and around $2 billion worth of gold frozen in the UK.
Maduro was abducted by US forces earlier this month and charged with narcoterrorism, cocaine trafficking, and firearms offenses. Rodriguez has denounced the kidnapping of Maduro, but has attempted to placate Washington – namely by allowing US companies to run the South American nation’s oil industry.
Venezuela’s oil industry was nationalized in 1976, with American contractors slapped with further restrictions by Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, in 2007. Trump has repeatedly claimed that these moves amounted to Venezuela “stealing” oil infrastructure built by US firms.
Trump has warned that if Rodriguez “doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.” The US president spoke with Rodriguez by phone last week, and announced plans to invite her to the White House.
Rodriguez insisted on Sunday that she had enough of “Washington's orders,” and that Venezuelans alone would “resolve our differences and our internal conflicts.” Asked on Tuesday about Rodriguez’ comments, Trump replied: “I haven't heard that at all. We have a very good relationship.”
