Washington: In a display of unilateral power, the United States has announced that it will dictate the decisions of Venezuela’s interim government and oversee the sale of the nation’s oil reserves. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez and her administration will follow US directives.
“The Trump administration, led by Secretary Rubio, the vice president and the president’s national security team, is in correspondence with the interim authorities in Venezuela. We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now,” she said.
She went further and emphasised that the decisions of the Venezuelan government “are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America”.
US Moves To Control Venezuelan Oil
Leavitt also confirmed that the United States will oversee the sale of Venezuelan crude and petroleum products. All proceeds, she said, will be held in accounts controlled by the United States, following comments earlier by Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
“All proceeds from the sale of Venezuelan crude oil and products will first settle in US-controlled accounts at globally recognised banks to guarantee the legitimacy and integrity of the ultimate distribution of proceeds. And those funds will be disbursed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people at the discretion of the US government,” she said.
The White House press secretary added that Washington will “selectively roll back sanctions” on Venezuelan oil to make these sales possible on the global market, highlighting the direct control the United States asserts over the country’s natural resources.
Rubio Details Three-Stage Plan
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio talked about a three-step plan for Venezuela after Maduro’s removal that focusses on stabilising the country, helping it recover economically and eventually guiding it through a political transition.
He said the first phase involves taking 30 to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil and selling them “at market rates”. “That money will then be handled in a way that we will control how it is dispersed, in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people, not corruption,” he claimed.
Phase two, according to him, aims to open Venezuela’s economy to Western corporations and allow opposition leaders to return with amnesty, while phase three, which he described as the “transition”, is largely undefined.
“We will have more detail in the days to follow, but we feel we are moving forward here in a very positive way,” Rubio said.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth echoed the administration’s self-congratulatory tone, telling reporters that “the world is taking notice” and that President Trump “is not messing around”. He praised the “advanced level of sophistication” of US actions, portraying Washington’s interventions as deliberate shows of global dominance.
Venezuelan Oil Already Being Marketed
The US Department of Energy confirmed that it has begun “marketing” Venezuelan crude oil worldwide, emphasising that proceeds will be controlled by the United States and distributed at its discretion.
While the administration claims the money will benefit both the Venezuelan and American people, no details have been provided on how the funds will be allocated, leaving experts skeptical.
Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, said negotiations with the United States are underway for “strictly commercial transactions” that it claims will benefit both nations.
However, the White House has described its involvement in controlling the proceeds as a matter of ensuring “legitimacy and integrity”, effectively placing Venezuela’s wealth under US authority.
UN Experts Condemn US Overreach
The United Nations has criticised Washington, saying the administration’s plans “amount to a flagrant disregard for the right of peoples to self-determination and their associated sovereignty over natural resources”.
Experts highlighted that Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, which they say should not be exploited under “thinly veiled pretexts” of military intervention or regime-change strategies.
“The international community bears a fundamental responsibility to avoid being complicit in imperial strategies that violate human rights and the principles of non-intervention and self-determination,” the UN statement said.
The experts also warned that such US actions “represent a deliberate challenge to the international legal order and to the very principle that power should be constrained by law”. They added that tolerating such behaviour risks normalising lawlessness in global affairs.
