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The Trump administration will soon allow Venezuelasell oil now under US sanctionswith revenue primarily dedicated to basic government services such as policing and health care and subject to Washington oversight, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.
The United States will remain in control in the short term to ensure that oil revenues are used to stabilize Venezuela, Rubio said in aHearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He noted that the interim leaders of the South American country submit a “budget” every month of their funding needs.
“The funds from that (oil sale) will be deposited into an account that we will have control over,” Rubio said, adding that the US Treasury would control the process. Venezuela, he said, “will spend that money for the benefit of the Venezuelan people.”
Rubio offers new insight into how the US plans to manage theselling tens of millions of barrels of oilfrom Venezuela, which has the largest proven reserves of crude oil in the world, and is looking at where the money is going. After the USraid that captured former President Nicolás Madurothis month, the US is trying to influence the next steps of the South American country through its vast oil resources.
The US will not subsidize investments in Venezuela’s oil industry, Rubio said, and is only overseeing the sale of permitted petroleum as an “interim measure.”
“This is a simple way to distribute the revenue so that there is no systemic collapse while we work on this recovery and transition,” Rubio said.
Democrats and some Republicans on the committee pressed Rubio for more details aboutTrump’s plans for Venezuela’s oil. Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., asked for assurances from Rubio that the sale of Venezuelan oil will be fair and open, not rigged to benefit.oil companies allied with Trump.
“You take their gun oil, you hold and sell that oil … you decide how and for what purpose that money is going to be used in a country of 30 million people,” Murphy said. “I think most of us believe that’s doomed to failure.”
Under Maduro, Rubio said Venezuela’s oil industry has benefited corrupt leaders and countries in the country such asChina, which bought Venezuelan oil at a discount. Now, Venezuela’s interim leaders are helping the US seize illegal oil shipments, he said.
The US will give Venezuela’s current leaders guidelines on how the money can and cannot be used and conduct audits to ensure it is being used as intended, Rubio said. He said Venezuela could use the money to pay for policing or buy medicine.
The fund was first set up in Qatar to avoid getting the proceeds of American creditors and because of other legal complications arising from the US not considering Maduro’s government as legitimate, Rubio said.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been allocated and as much as $3 billion more is expected, he said.
“This is an account that belongs to Venezuela, but it has US sanctions as a deterrent mechanism,” Rubio said. “We only control the circulation of money, we don’t control the actual money.”
Earlier this month, acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez said that money from oil sales would flow to two sovereign wealth funds: one to support health services affected by the crisis and the second to strengthen public infrastructure, including the electric grid.
The country’s hospitals are so poorly equipped that patients are asked to provide supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws. They also have to pay for lab tests and imaging at private hospitals.
On Tuesday, in a televised event to announce the renovation of various health care facilities, Rodríguez said his government and the US administration had “established respectful and respectful channels of communication” since Maduro’s capture.
Neither Rodríguez nor his government’s press office immediately commented on Rubio’s comments on Wednesday.
At Rodríguez’s request, Venezuelan lawmakers last week began debating an overhaul of the country’s energy law. The proposed changes are intended to create conditions to attract the necessary private foreign investment.
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Garcia Cano reports from Caracas, Venezuela.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
