Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado stated this Thursday that the oil agreement with the United States, announced by interim president Delcy Rodríguez, must be approached with “transparency” and “legality,” emphasizing that it is only possible and will succeed with a “democratic government” in Caracas.
In a video posted on her social media in reaction to the agreement reached between the United States and Venezuela for the sale of part of the country’s oil reserves, the opposition leader stressed that the Venezuelan people feel “sadness, anger, and that discomfort so often repeated in history” because, as she emphasized, “someone decides about what is ours, in our name, without consulting us.”
Although she has not opposed the agreement, she criticized that “the true scope” of it is “still unknown.” “Who signs? What is really being signed? Who puts up the money? Who gives the guarantees? How does this benefit Venezuelans?” she asked, pointing to the “implications” this pact with Washington could have for Venezuela’s future.
Thus, the opposition leader stated that any pact regarding Venezuela’s energy reserves, a matter she herself has raised in the past to garner U.S. support, must be based on “a solid partnership of mutual benefit.” “As I have always said, win-win,” she noted.
Machado elaborated that this agreement “requires sustained work under the non-negotiable principles of absolute transparency, legality, and efficiency.” In her view, this pact can only happen “with the legitimacy and stability offered by a serious and democratic government,” in contrast to the “illegitimate regime” of Delcy Rodríguez, who assumed the presidency after Nicolás Maduro’s capture in a U.S. military operation last January and has since shown a policy of total collaboration with U.S. President Donald Trump.
In this way, she criticized that Venezuela’s natural heritage “does not belong to an illegitimate regime, but to the Venezuelan people.” “Of course, the United States is the main partner Venezuela needs to fully develop its strategic value, but the enemies of the United States in Venezuela are today in Miraflores,” she warned, referring to the Chavista leaders who remain in power after Maduro’s departure.
“Precisely because this partnership between Venezuela and the United States involves a strategic factor, we all need things to be done right,” she maintained.
Read more The story of the late feminist icon Gloria Steinem and her clashes with Trump
Thus, she warned, in an implicit message to Washington, that “only with the support and accompaniment of the people,” through a great national agreement, can such an agreement succeed, both for the United States and Venezuela.
“Venezuelans know that no development is possible without strong institutions and without a government elected by popular vote. That is the only true guarantee of success and stability for any investment,” she added.
She proposed that any oil agreement be framed within “a transparent legal framework” with rules publicly approved by a “legitimate” National Assembly, “not by decree or behind closed doors.” She also called for an independent Venezuelan hydrocarbons agency to be “a serious regulator” and stop being “both judge and party” in the oil sector.
Machado proposed “public and open tenders,” with “clear rules” and “transparent results” to thus end “handpicked awards.”
Along with the agreement must come “a competitive and stable tax regime” and a framework that “attracts investors,” added the opposition leader, as well as suggesting international arbitration mechanisms and elements that provide legal security to the actors involved in the sector.
Read more Gloria Steinem: the books that turned women’s experience into a political cause
