U.S. Taps Venezuelan Oil Revenues To Fund Police And Public Services

Key Points

• Washington says it is selling sanctioned Venezuelan oil at market prices to pay for basic services, not politicians.
• Rubio framed a long transition, warning elections cannot be credible without open media and opposition access.
• Senators from both parties questioned legality, transparency, and whether the U.S. is choosing winners in Caracas.

The Trump administration is trying to prevent Venezuela’s collapse from becoming a regional emergency by using the country’s most valuable asset as a financial lifeline: oil.

Testifying to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington has created a short-term mechanism to fund policing, sanitation, and core government functions.

He described an urgent fiscal crunch after Nicolás Maduro’s capture in a U.S. operation on January 3, arguing that unpaid police and shuttered public services could trigger chaos and a new wave of migration toward neighboring states, especially Colombia.

The funding model is unusual. Rubio said revenue will come from sanctioned Venezuelan oil sold at market prices, with proceeds steered toward public services rather than the former governing network.

U.S. Signals Coercive Transition Strategy

In earlier remarks reported by major outlets, Rubio spoke of taking roughly 30 million to 50 million barrels and selling them at market rates.

With crude prices reported around the low $60s per barrel in early January, some estimates put the total proceeds in the low single-digit billions of dollars.

Rubio laid out a three-stage roadmap. First comes stabilization and basic governance. Second is economic recovery and a cleanup of the oil sector, including rules intended to reduce corruption and favoritism.

Third is a political transition toward elections that, he warned, will not be free or fair if the opposition cannot organize, compete, or access independent media.

The interim authority, in Rubio’s description, is led by Delcy Rodríguez, a figure long associated with the outgoing power structure.

Rubio said direct talks with interim officials have been respectful but not open-ended. In a written statement, he threatened the use of force if the new authorities fail to cooperate fully with U.S. demands.

He also highlighted the scale of repression still unresolved. Rubio cited nearly 2,000 political prisoners and said releases are happening, but slowly.

On social media, the plan has ignited a familiar divide. Supporters call it a hard-nosed, practical bridge away from authoritarian collapse.

Critics call it a new form of tutelage that risks swapping one closed system for another. Senators echoed that concern, pressing the administration on war-powers questions, oversight, and whether Congress has been sidelined.

Rubio’s appearance coincided with a scheduled State Department meeting with opposition leader María Corina Machado, adding to the sense that Venezuela’s future is being negotiated in parallel tracks, and under heavy U.S. pressure.

Related coverage: Brazil’s Morning Call | Venezuela’s Oil-Law Rewrite Pitches $1.4 Billion In New Deal This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Venezuela affairs and Latin American financial news.

More: Latin America news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error