By El Latino Newsroom
An oil agreement announced by President Donald Trump could give the United States access to some of Venezuela’s enormous petroleum reserves for decades, but the scope of the deal is clearer than the mechanics of making it work.
Trump announced the agreement Friday, calling it the biggest oil deal in history. Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, said it could help rebuild the country’s battered petroleum industry and restore Venezuela as a major player in global energy markets. No full text of the agreement has been publicly released.
Under the announced terms, the U.S. government and a private operator would participate in a new company holding rights to develop untapped Venezuelan oil fields for 100 years. Rodríguez said 17 fields are involved, with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels.
The Venezuelan government estimates the project could attract $100 billion in investment and generate more than $209 billion in taxes for the country.
According to a U.S. official cited by The Associated Press, the United States would receive 55% of the new company’s effective output through a combination of an ownership stake and the right to purchase oil at cost. Some of that crude would be directed to U.S. strategic reserves and the military.
AP reported that the private operator is North America Blue Energy Partners, owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, citing a person familiar with the agreement. The company already operates in Venezuela and produces about 200,000 barrels of oil per day. The White House had not publicly identified the operator.
NO QUICK RELIEF AT THE PUMP
Trump has argued that the agreement will help lower gasoline prices in the United States. Energy experts, however, say Americans should not expect an immediate effect.
Years of underinvestment and deterioration have left Venezuela’s oil infrastructure in need of billions of dollars in repairs. Expanding production substantially could take years, and neither government has explained who will finance that work.
The deal also faces political and legal uncertainty. Republicans have praised it as an economic opportunity, while Democrats have questioned the circumstances surrounding it and the U.S. intervention in Venezuela.
For investors, the unanswered questions may prove decisive. Major oil companies would have to weigh Venezuela’s history of nationalization, damaged infrastructure and the possibility that future governments in Washington or Caracas could challenge the arrangement.
For now, the agreement offers the United States the prospect of access to an extraordinary volume of oil. Turning those barrels beneath Venezuelan soil into reliable production, however, will require something the announcement has yet to provide: details.
ECUADOR
An Ecuadorian court sentenced former President Lenín Moreno to five years in prison after finding him guilty of bribery in a corruption case involving the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant, one of the country’s largest infrastructure projects.
The ruling also convicted several other defendants, including Moreno’s wife, Rocío González, and one of his daughters.
Moreno, who served as president from 2017 to 2021 and currently lives in Paraguay, has denied the allegations. The ruling can be appealed.
Prosecutors accused Moreno and members of his family of participating in a bribery scheme tied to contracts for the hydroelectric project, which was built by Chinese company Sinohydro during the administration of former President Rafael Correa.
The investigation, known in Ecuador as the Sinohydro case, alleged that approximately $76 million in bribes were distributed between 2010 and 2018 in exchange for favorable treatment related to the project.
Prosecutors said the payments were concealed through false consulting and professional-services agreements.
Moreno served as Correa’s vice president from 2007 to 2013 before succeeding him as president.
Although the two were once political allies, they later became bitter rivals after Moreno broke with his predecessor and reversed several of his policies.
The former president has maintained that he is innocent and has criticized the proceedings against him.
He participated virtually in the trial from Paraguay, where he has lived since 2022.
The sentence does not immediately send Moreno to prison because the decision is subject to appeal.
The case adds Moreno to the list of former Ecuadorian presidents convicted on corruption charges.
Correa was sentenced in 2020 to eight years in prison for corruption and has also denied wrongdoing. He has lived in Belgium for years.
Iran
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, urged Muslim countries to unite against the United States and Israel as new military exchanges threatened to end a monthlong lull in the six-month war.
Khamenei called on leaders of Muslim nations to recognize what he described as their “real enemy,” understand its plans and confront it, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency. His remarks were delivered in a letter to religious leaders attending a conference in Tehran.
The Iranian leader has not been seen publicly since U.S. and Israeli attacks six months ago killed his father and other senior Iranian officials.
The conflict has also exposed divisions between Tehran and other Muslim-majority countries after Iran attacked targets in neighboring Gulf Arab states and restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. forces said Sunday they struck Iranian rocket launchers in the Strait of Hormuz, the first confirmed American military action against Iran since July 29.
U.S. military officials described the operation as a “limited, precise action” targeting Iranian forces they said were involved in laying mines.
Iranian media reported explosions near Larak Island, while the Revolutionary Guard acknowledged that several of its fighters and other Iranians had been killed or wounded.
Iran later said it retaliated by launching ballistic missiles at U.S. sites in Jordan.
Jordan’s armed forces said eight missiles that entered its airspace were intercepted early Monday.
The renewed fighting came as tensions remained high elsewhere in the region.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said it had urgently evacuated Yair Netanyahu, the eldest son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from the United States because of what it described as a “significant threat.”
The agency provided no additional details. Netanyahu had previously said Iran attempted to kill one of his sons.
In Gaza, meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike in western Deir al-Balah killed a 3-year-old child and a man whom the Israeli military identified as a Hamas operative.
The military said the man posed an immediate threat but did not provide evidence supporting that assertion. Another Palestinian was wounded, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
The developments underscore the fragility of a regional situation in which fighting involving Iran, Israel and the United States continues alongside violence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
