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Comment by drtgh

3 days ago

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez is in charge, so nothing is gonna change for Venezuelan citizens.

Oil industry in Venezuela is Chinese, or for China, this is not gonna change either.

What we are seeing here is a show, or may be also more related to Venezuela being a narco-state.

43 comments

drtgh

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0xB31B1B  3 days ago

not quite

The oil production there is completely decimated. They have huge reserves but production is low and falling because the regime doesn't do any maintenance or support of anything in the oil production and supply chain. It is very much the meme of "living in the ruins of a once great society".

r721  3 days ago

>Venezuela vice president Rodriguez in Russia, four sources say

>Her brother, Jorge Rodriguez, the head of the national assembly, is in Caracas, three sources with knowledge of his whereabouts said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-vice-presid...

mapontosevenths  3 days ago

You may be wrong about the oil industry, Trumps already saying it in between the lies/pretense about drugs.

"Trump says that the US is going to be "strongly involved" in Venezuela's oil industry moving forward." [0]

[0] https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt

  • drtgh  3 days ago

    Certainly I may be wrong. By the moment I just find it hard to believe that Taiwan has been traded for Venezuelan oil.

    I mention Taiwan because I think it is the only currency that could make the Chinese government give up those barrels of oil without retaliating.

    • mapontosevenths  2 days ago

      You made the mistake of believing that Trump is more than a zero step thinker. Many do.

      The fact is, his tactics and plans end where his nose does.

      Many of his advisors are capable of planning, but there are times he just doesnt listen to them and lets whatever heavy metals are in the spray tan do all the thinking. See January Sixth for one example that got people killed. See USAID for another.

      1 reply →

    • Loudergood  3 days ago

      On the one hand, I agree. On the other hand, I don't think this administration would have bothered to talk to China at all. I don't think they need to.

    • terminalshort  3 days ago

      China isn't giving up any barrels of oil. It's a global market. If Venezuela is selling 5 million bbl per day to China, and it stops selling to China, someone else will start buying it. Since they are now buying 5 million bbl per day from Venezuela, that means they are buying 5 million bbl / day less from their existing suppliers. China will buy that oil.

      1 reply →

ErneX  3 days ago

I think the next in line is her brother, who is the president of the National Assembly (Congress).

pstuart  3 days ago

Venezuela is rich in mineral resources as well. Whatever it is the Trump admin is after, it's not democracy, it's some form of self-enrichment.

  • actionfromafar  3 days ago

    Just a small reminder that we aren't talking about Epstein much today.

    • XorNot  3 days ago

      Although that doesn't seem like much of a solution though: the press will be bored of this by the end of the week and the only news that can come out is bad news.

pqtyw  3 days ago

> Vice President Delcy Rodriguez is in charge

Today. She's still part of the same regime and party. It's not obvious Trump will let her stay in charge. Also the control the government had over the criminal gangs/syndicates/cartels was seemingly very weak anyway. Even if the current decapitated regime is allowed to stay it won't be very strong.

  • CSMastermind  3 days ago

    The US has long recognized Edmundo González as the rightful president of the country following the 2024 election. I imagine they will try to install him.

    Alternatively there's María Corina Machado who overwhelmingly won the presidential primary for that election but wasn't allowed to run.

  • skippyboxedhero  3 days ago

    Some reports that she is already in Moscow.

    I am not sure what you mean by "control the government had"...they are the same thing. It is like the situation with IRA and Sinn Fein, this bizarre roleplay where people (for various reasons) went to massive effort to imply they were separate when it was obvious they were led by the same people. There is no distinction between the government and cartels...the assumption that there is makes no sense at all given the latitude they have to operate.

  • jacquesm  3 days ago

    > It's not obvious Trump will let her stay in charge.

    What's he going to do, kidnap her? Oh, wait.

    • ExoticPearTree  3 days ago

      Low level officials can be eliminated through missile strikes.

      If if had to guess, Maduro could have been take out with a GBU or two, but the US holds a grudge against him so they took him out to humiliate him, and send a message to others.

      2 replies →

smcl  3 days ago

> Venezuela being a narco-state.

That is an insane take

  • ethbr1  3 days ago

    Is it?

    I'm skeptical, as it seems to have that ring of circa-2003 WMD justification about it, but I won't dismiss it out of hat.

    And if the US intends to prosecute Maduro on drug crimes in SDNYC (good!), then they'll have to present evidence to the court, which presumably means they think they have a case.

    Personally, I doubt Maduro intentionally ran a narco-state as a primary focus. But I can very much see a sizable narcotics enterprise, with state support, being used as a key way for him to enrich select supporters absent a viable economy. Money to pay the generals has to come from somewhere...