The News
The Trump administration is reversing Chevron’s Biden-era license to export Venezuela oil, the US president announced Wednesday.
Trump cited the country’s “electoral conditions” as one reason for the decision, adding that the regime hasn’t taken back “violent criminals” at a fast enough pace.
Ric Grenell, Trump’s special envoy, sparked confusion over the weekend regarding US policy towards Venezuela by saying Trump “doesn’t want to do regime change.” But press secretary Karoline Leavitt later told Semafor that Trump “stands in opposition to the Maduro regime” and pointed to comments by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who at the start of Trump’s presidency held a call with “Venezuela’s rightful president,” 2024 candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, and opposition leader María Corina Machado. Machado praised Trump’s Chevron move during a podcast episode with Donald Trump Jr. on Wednesday, saying it sends “a clear, firm message that Maduro is in huge trouble.”