Rubio claims that Venezuela will send the White House its monthly budget.
Democrats sharply questioned the plan, including the role of Qatar in managing an account funded by the sale of Venezuelan oil.
Venezuela’s interim government has agreed to submit a monthly “budget” to the Trump administration, which will release money from an account funded by the country’s oil sales and initially managed by Qatar, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday.
However, Democrats who were skeptical of the plan and Mr. Rubio conceded that it was “novel” and hastily designed. The role of Qatar — a Middle Eastern country thousands of miles from Venezuela whose ruler has won President Trump’s favor — drew particular criticism from Democrats, who questioned its legality and transparency.
Mr. During an appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio discussed the strategy in detail. It was Mr. Rubio’s first public testimony to Congress since American forces captured Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, on Jan. 3, and an opportunity to clarify U.S. policy toward the country.
Many questions are sure to persist, however.
Mr. For instance, Rubio reassured senators that the Trump administration had established a “very respectful and productive line of communication” with Delcy Rodrguez’s government, a close ally of Mr. Maduro who assumed power after his removal. He added that as a result, the Trump administration does not “intend or expect” to “at any time” use military force against Venezuela.
Yet Mr. Rubio took a more threatening tone in a written opening statement that he submitted to the committee but did not deliver orally, making brief extemporaneous remarks instead. The written statement warned that the United States was “prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation” from Ms. The government of Rodriguez “if other methods fail.” That cooperation is largely focused on Venezuela’s lucrative oil industry.
Mr. Trump has previously stated that the United States will “run the country” and control Venezuela’s oil, but Mr. Rubio provided additional specifics. The United States will help Venezuela’s government fund basic public services by disbursing proceeds from the sale of Venezuelan oil that is subject to U.S. sanctions, Mr. Rubio said. He stated that the strategy was a “short-term mechanism” that was not intended to become permanent and that it was necessary due to Venezuela’s “fiscal crunch.”
“They needed money immediately to fund the police, sanitation workers, and the day-to-day operations of the government,” stated Mr. Rubio added. “They have pledged to use a substantial amount of those funds to purchase medicine and equipment directly from the United States.”
He acknowledged that the arrangement was unusual, but Mr. Rubio said the funds would initially be held in an offshore account controlled by Qatar before eventual transferral to a U.S. Treasury account.
Mr. says, “I understand it’s novel, but it’s the best we could come up with in the short term.” Rubio said.
He said a third-party account was necessary because of U.S. financial sanctions on Venezuela and because U.S. creditors to whom the country owes money, mainly from its seizure of American energy company assets roughly 20 years ago, could otherwise make legal claims on the funds that would complicate their disbursement.
A request for clarification regarding the plan was not immediately met with a response from the Venezuelan government. Some Democrats had doubts. “I think this is novel. I find it quirky. According to Senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, who spoke with Mr. Rubio.
Mr. Schatz questioned whether the Trump administration had the legal authority to create and manage such an account. Additionally, he lamented the administration’s failure to publish the full text of what Mr. Rubio said was a written agreement with Ms. Rodríguez’s government.
Mr. Rubio said the Treasury Department could provide the agreement.
Texas Democrat Representative Lloyd Doggett said in a statement that Mr. Rubio’s testimony “raised more questions than answers,” and demanded to know why, instead of Qatar, the administration had not chosen “a country with much stronger banking laws and a history of robust management of oil revenues.”
“There are currently no safeguards to ensure the Rodríguez family does not use the revenue to pay off Maduro’s allies, including paramilitary groups and drug cartels, to maintain control of the country,” Mr. Doggett stated And by shielding the money from creditors through the use of the Qatari account, he added, the Trump administration is “unlawfully refusing to honor debts owed to U.S. institutions.”
Mr. Rubio also parried questions about whether and when the United States would insist on a political transition that removed Mr. Maduro’s cronies from their continued hold on power.
He stated, “I can’t give you a timeline of how long it takes.” “It can’t take a long time. I get that. We all want something immediately. But this is not a frozen dinner you put in a microwave and in two and a half minutes it comes out ready to eat.”
Mr. Rubio’s undelivered written remarks suggested that Ms. Rodríguez had bought herself some time. “It is our belief that her own self-interest aligns with advancing our key objectives,” he wrote. “She has committed to opening Venezuela’s energy sector to American companies, providing preferential access to production, and using revenues to purchase American goods.”
While many Republicans praised Mr. Mr. Rubio and Trump for what they called decisive action against Mr. Maduro, that policy did not sit well with many Democrats.
“You are taking their oil at gunpoint,” Senator Christopher S. Connecticut’s Murphy said. He continued, “You are deciding how and for what purposes that money is going to be used in a country with 30 million people.” “I think a lot of us are of the opinion that that is predestined to fail,”
