The de facto leader of Venezuela’s opposition is defending President Donald Trump’s move last week to cancel licenses allowing energy companies to operate in the South American petrostate despite U.S. sanctions.
María Corina Machado, the most prominent figure in the country’s opposition movement, told POLITICO that such measures are necessary to hold the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro responsible for repression against his people. She also argued the license cancellations were critical to ensure Maduro’s government doesn’t have the funds to sustain what she describes as a “criminal organization” harming the Venezuelan people. Maduro has been accused by U.S. prosecutors of participating in drug trafficking and other illicit activities.
“This is what can weaken a criminal system and the flow of cash in the case of the Maduro regime comes from absolutely illicit sources tied to drug trafficking, oil, gold and minerals smuggling, money laundering and then permitted income from oil licenses,” said Machado. “As a result, what’s happened is a clear statement from the Trump administration as to the threat that Venezuela poses.”
Her comments follow the Trump administration’s move last week to cancel oil and gas licenses that were approved by the Treasury Department under President Joe Biden. Those licenses allowed Chevron and other energy companies to maintain operations in Venezuela and import oil from Venezuela to the United States. Chevron’s license, the largest of them all, accounted for 300,000 barrels of oil a day and provided the Maduro regime with almost $500 million every month.
