U.S.-Venezuela February 2026-

Venezuela’s ‘Dirtiest’ Oil and the Environment: Three Things to Know
Most of the reserves in the country are extra-heavy oil that’s tough to extract and generates more greenhouse gases.
Experts say it could take many years and billions of dollars of investment before the country’s production rebounds to earlier levels. In the meantime, the country is vulnerable to oil spills, it has one of the fastest deforestation rates in the tropics and the production of its oil generates more planet-warming greenhouse gases than most other types of crude oil. – NYT 5 January 2026

3 July
Venezuelans Frustrated by Earthquake Response Want New Presidential Elections
Takeaways by Bloomberg AI
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez is facing mounting political fallout from last week’s twin earthquakes, with nearly half of Venezuelans saying holding new elections is more urgent than rebuilding after the disaster.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents disapproved of the government’s handling of the earthquakes, while 52.4% described the response as “very poor.”
Some 45.7% of respondents said that electing a new president is a greater priority than the 32.6% who said reconstruction should come first.
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez is facing mounting political fallout from last week’s twin earthquakes, with nearly half of Venezuelans saying holding new elections is more urgent than rebuilding after the disaster.
Rodríguez’s disapproval rating climbed to 63.3% in June, up almost five percentage points from May, according to an AtlasIntel survey conducted for Bloomberg News between June 26 and 30, after the disaster struck. Nearly two-thirds of respondents disapproved of the government’s handling of the earthquakes, while 52.4% described the response as “very poor.”
Public anger has spilled across social media in recent days, where videos have circulated of Venezuelans criticizing the government’s response time and confronting officials. Authorities have officially reported 2,645 deaths and 12,666 injured. An opposition-backed registry continues to list more than 35,000 people as missing. …
The survey suggests the disaster has accelerated a crisis of confidence that had been building since Nicolás Maduro’s capture by US forces in January. … Instead, Venezuelans have placed greater confidence in non-state actors than in government institutions during the emergency, according to the survey. Respondents credited doctors, firefighters, private companies, non-governmental organizations, religious groups and opposition leader María Corina Machado with contributing more to relief and reconstruction efforts than the government, police forces or Rodríguez herself. … Machado, who remains in Panama after authorities prevented her from returning to Venezuela, continues to be the country’s highest-rated political leader, with a 53% of respondents having a positive image of her. Still, that was down two percentage points from the previous survey.

2 July
Venezuela’s earthquakes are partly America’s problem
The government’s response has been dire. Its patron has a duty to help
(The Economist) … The regime’s response to the disaster has been dismal. In La Guaira, the worst-hit state, survivors say no official help came in the first 48 hours—the crucial period when there is the best chance that people trapped under fallen buildings might still be breathing. Families were left to scrabble for their loved ones in heaps of dust and broken concrete. Heavy machinery for moving the rubble was slow to come and sometimes lacked fuel. Some rescue teams had no torches. The stench of rotting corpses is now pervasive. Injured survivors who make it to hospital find the wards short-staffed and ill-equipped. The regime, which is as incompetent as it is authoritarian, has been slow to distribute aid.
Since January, when Donald Trump sent military forces to capture Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s problems have become America’s, too. … America’s unique involvement in Venezuela brings unique responsibilities. It should do more to fulfil them. About 300 American rescuers have arrived, along with 900 marines. But of $300m promised in aid, only $100m is new money. All help is welcome, but the need is great.

1 July
Wednesday briefing: After two powerful earthquakes, what is the reality on the ground in Venezuela?
(The Guardian)  A country already in crisis since the removal of its leader earlier this year by the US, now has to find a way to rebuild with little state presence in evidence

30 June
‘Tonnes of rubble’: 58,000 buildings estimated destroyed in Venezuela earthquakes
Preliminary analysis of satellite data suggests magnitude of natural disaster could dwarf official estimates
(The Guardian) … The government has militarised La Guaira and imposed a permit requirement to enter the disaster zone. The US military has repaired and reopened the city’s port, where at least one a warehouse has been turned into a makeshift morgue for hundreds of unidentified cadavers in body bags.
According to Gianluca Rampolla, the UN coordinator in Venezuela, a total of 27 countries have mobilised nearly 40 search and rescue teams. They include more than 2,000 troops and personnel, along with more than 160 dogs. Rampolla said the UN would provide 10,000 body bags, although it hopes the final toll will be lower.
The wait for news – good or bad – is fuelling growing public anger over the authorities’ failure to prepare for the disaster and to react more quickly once the quakes hit.

28 June
Venezuelan earthquakes test Trump’s new western hemisphere policy after gutting of USAID
Andrew Roth
Marco Rubio is scrambling to provide effective disaster response to country whose president US deposed in January
(The Guardian) This week’s dual earthquakes in Venezuela are a test for the new era of American power in the western hemisphere, as the Trump administration scrambles to provide an effective disaster response mission to a country that it now calls an ally in Latin America, after a US special forces raid in January deposed the country’s strongman leader, Nicolás Maduro.
The US is marshalling what secretary of state Marco Rubio called a “big, fast, effective” and “whole-of-government” response as the state department sent three specialised urban search and rescue teams and pledged a $150m assistance fund that one former disaster relief expert called the largest he had seen within 24 hours of an incident.
The disaster assistance response team (DART) deployed to Venezuela includes more than 250 people, the state department said in a statement.
This is a high-stakes mission for the US. The Trump White House has gutted the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and put disaster assistance under the state department, laying off thousands of aid workers in the process.
What to Know About the Venezuela Earthquakes and Rescue Efforts
Back-to-back quakes in northern Venezuela killed more than 1,400 people and set off an agonizing search for survivors. It was the latest ordeal for a country rocked by economic and political turmoil.
… President Delcy Rodríguez said that more than 24 countries had sent aid, including 2,741 emergency workers.
On Saturday, specialist units arrived from multiple countries, including Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.
The United States made a significant contribution, sending a Marine Corps major general to direct its military relief efforts, which include two ships, helicopters and heavy cargo planes for delivering aid. Civilian search-and-rescue teams from California, Florida and Virginia were also sent.

24 June
Venezuela Live Updates: 2 Major Earthquakes Hit Country’s Center
(NYT) The earthquakes were a magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, according to a U.S. monitoring agency. People in the stricken area said that buildings collapsed and electricity was knocked out, including in the capital, Caracas.
Two major earthquakes struck central Venezuela on Wednesday evening, causing buildings to collapse in the capital and people to swarm into the streets. The stronger quake was the largest to hit the country since 1900.
(The Guardian) Venezuela’s president, Delcy Rodríguez, declared a state of emergency. “For those who have unfortunately suffered the loss of a family member, we extend our immediate condolences,” she said in a televised address. She gave no numbers of deaths or injuries, but with fears of a widespread disaster high, called on doctors and nurses to report to their jobs to care for the injured.
State of emergency declared, damaged Caracas airport closed
Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has announced a state of emergency. “We ask the population to remain calm and united,” she said on state TV. Rodríguez said the country’s main airport had been closed after suffering “severe damage” and announced that the metro and train systems had been halted.
(The Guardian) The five-star JW Marriott hotel in Caracas has become the nerve centre of the US intervention in Venezuela since the 3 January abduction of president Nicolás Maduro. Since Donald Trump’s invasion, the Marriott has served as the home of the dozens of North American officials, diplomats and spies who now call the shots in Venezuela, a country many believe has become a US protectorate – and which Trump has even said he hopes to turn into the 51st state. The US is mobilising assistance for Venezuela, a US state department official has told Reuters. There were no details about what form the assistance would take. The US will deploy a disaster assistance team to Venezuela, Jeremy Lewin, the US under secretary of state for foreign assistance, has posted to X. “Working with our partners in the interim Venezuelan government, the U.S. will be ‌sending search and rescue teams, medical and humanitarian supplies and other resources in the crucial first days ​after this tragic natural disaster,” he said.

2 June
The Rape of Venezuela
Ricardo Hausmann, a former minister of planning of Venezuela and former chief economist at the Inter-American Development Bank; professor at Harvard Kennedy School and Director of the Harvard Growth Lab.
Venezuela’s oil production is rising, yet its currency is depreciating, inflation is accelerating, and foreign exchange remains scarce. The disconnect reflects a political economy built on private dealmaking and a mutually beneficial alliance between ruling elites and US President Donald Trump’s acolytes.
(Project Syndicate) Shortly after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, US President Donald Trump praised the country’s new rulers. Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president who assumed power after his arrest and transfer to the United States, was “doing a great job,” Trump said, adding that “oil is starting to flow, and large amounts of money, unseen for many years, will soon be greatly helping the people of Venezuela.”
udging by Trump’s pronouncements, Venezuela ought to be booming. And by Trump’s favorite metric, it is: oil production has increased, albeit modestly, from 908,000 barrels per day in late 2025 to 1.03 million in April. With the US effectively overseeing the country’s oil revenues, Venezuelan crude—once sold at steep discounts under American sanctions—is now priced much closer to the unusually high international benchmarks, courtesy of the Iran war. In theory, Venezuela should be awash in dollars, but is it?
The macroeconomic data tell a radically different story than the triumphalist narrative coming out of Caracas and Washington. Since Maduro’s removal, the official exchange rate has depreciated by more than 70%. Over the same period, the parallel-market price of the dollar has climbed from 585 bolívars to more than 730—a 32% premium over the official rate.

14 May
Trump’s talk of 51st US state met with near-silence in Venezuela
(AP) — Twice this week, U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed interest in turning Venezuela into his country’s 51st state. The latest came via a Truth Social post Tuesday with a map showing the South American country filled with the U.S. flag.
Previous statements doubting Venezuela’s sovereignty over the past 25 years have been met with immediate derision from senior government officials, including the president. The ruling party even organized demonstrations in the capital, Caracas, as recently as Jan. 3, hours after then-President Nicolás Maduro was captured by the U.S., that included chants of “Gringo go home.” This time around, however, the government has mostly kept quiet, save for a brief statement to reporters Monday from acting President Delcy Rodríguez.

25 February
The foreign policy details Trump omitted
(GZERO Analysis) … One area where Trump can take more credit – and he has done so – is the seizure of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro earlier this year, a move that had much support in certain Latino pockets of South Florida. In a surprise move last night, Trump brought out Enrique Márquez, a Venezuelan opposition leader and former presidential candidate who had been recently freed from prison, to reunite with his niece.
Yet there is still uncertainty about who will run the Latin American country of roughly 27 million people going forward. Trump said the US is working closely with interim President Delcy Rodríguez, but opposition leader María Corina Machado is still pushing for elections to take place within the next year. It’s also unclear whether the US will even be able to access Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, as companies like Exxon declare the country “uninvestable” under current conditions.