At his first public congressional appearance since the United States invaded Venezuela earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told senators the Trump administration will only control Venezuelan oil sales in the “short term.”
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, Rubio framed the American-led oil sales as necessary to fund Venezuelan government infrastructure.
The United States will temporarily sell Venezuelan oil that has been in storage or is aboard sanctioned vessels, and will hold the profits in accounts where it can be disbursed for the benefit of the Venezuelan people, Rubio said.
“Our goal is to rope all of this illegal oil into a channel that goes into this account that ultimately goes to the benefit of the Venezuelan people. This is an interim step. This is not the way we want their oil industry to look like in perpetuity,” Rubio testified.
