Many Venezuelans suspected that there was going to be a price to pay for President Trump’s brazen capture of their autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, who was arrested by U.S. forces in January.
On Friday, that cost became clear when Mr. Trump announced that the U.S. would be taking majority control of a vast part of Venezuela’s oil reserves — national resources long considered by many in the country to be a birthright.
By Saturday, many Venezuelans were grappling with whether they were willing to pay that price. So far, the U.S. ouster of the autocrat has done little to change the country — Mr. Maduro’s successor, Delcy Rodríguez, remains in power, while millions of everyday Venezuelans remain in poverty, electricity blackouts continue to plague the nation and no date has been set for an election.
The new deal could bring major investment. But many Venezuelans want overall economic and political change. The accord guarantees neither and could deepen the relationship between Mr. Trump and Ms. Rodríguez, further entrenching her in power.
In Valencia, about two hours from the capital of Caracas, José Leal, 68, a retired educator, said the $100 billion in promised U.S. investment sounded small compared to the 65 billion barrels Venezuela was giving up. But after decades under a repressive government, he was willing to put up with this deal — and hope that Mr. Trump would push for democratic change.
“Obviously, the United States comes out ahead, enormously so,” he said. But “the Americans hold the power,” he said, and without them “we won’t manage to break free from the socialism of Chávez and Maduro. Without them, we’ll remain trapped like Cuba, China, or North Korea.”
“It’s not that I love it or even like it,” he said of the deal. “I consider it a necessary evil. If we manage to escape this entire disaster — which we’ve endured for 27 years and the Cubans for 68 — if we manage to get out of this mess, then even though I don’t like it, it will be worth it.”
Others were not so optimistic. The Venezuelan government has a long history of doling out beneficial contracts to the wealthy and connected, known inside the country as “enfuchados” — people who are “plugged in” — while everyday Venezuelans suffer. Mr. Trump’s announcement on Friday included no mention of a democratic transition.
A meme began circulating in the region almost as soon as the deal was announced. “I want you to get rid of Chavismo,” says a cartoon Venezuelan man, referring to Mr. Maduro’s movement, “and leave us our oil.”
A cartoon Mr. Trump responds: “Take the oil and leave you with Chavismo, got it!”
Venezuela, home to some of the largest oil reserves in the world, nationalized those resources in the 1970s. Sovereign control over wells then became a core pillar of the ideology of the socialist government, founded by former president Hugo Chávez.
Ms. Rodríguez’s decision to turn over much of that oil to the U.S. government represented an astounding about-face, one that few Venezuelans could have imagined before the January attack.
That turnaround was evident in a statement released by Ms. Rodríguez’s Socialist Party on Saturday, which said that “true to its historic commitment to national sovereignty,” the party was extending its full support for the deal and the decisions made by “Comrade Delcy Rodríguez.”
The irony of this was not lost on many Venezuelans. A government that once proudly thumbed its nose at Washington was now handing over the resources at the center of its identity.
Another meme circulating in Venezuela changed the logo of the national oil company, PDVSA, to PDUSA.
On X, Rafael Ramírez, a Chávez loyalist and former head of PDVSA now living in exile, accused Ms. Rodríguez of “opening the doors to a new form of US colonialism.”
In Maracaibo, a Venezuelan city that anchors much of the country’s oil industry, Dario Nava, 67, a former PDVSA manager, said he opposed the deal and did not believe it would improve his life.
“The United States is going to manage our oil industry,” he said, “and sovereignty is lost there.”
In Caracas, Carlos Arenas, 24, a university student, said that he might be willing to cede some control of Venezuelan oil for economic improvement.
“If there were an economic benefit for the country that eventually translated into a better quality of life for Venezuelans, then yes, I would be willing,” he said. “But that doesn’t seem to be the case here — at least not initially.”
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there will be a political change in Venezuela anytime soon,” he added. “Trump seems very comfortable with Delcy.”
Venezuela’s leading opposition figure, María Corina Machado, has in the past floated the idea of privatizing the oil sector. For years the idea was mocked by Ms. Rodríguez’s party. And it was so controversial that Ms. Machado did not make it a core part of her platform in a 2024 presidential election.
On Saturday, a prominent supporter of Ms. Machado, Walter Molina, said on X that “Venezuelans always knew that our freedom would come at a cost.”
“If that price is 65 billion barrels over the course of decades, so be it,” he said. “But let it be just that: the price of our freedom. Not the price we pay to keep a criminal tyranny in de facto power — only now kneeling before the United States.”
Reporting was contributed by María Victoria Fermín from Caracas, Tibisay Romero from Valencia, Venezuela, and Sheyla Urdaneta from Buenos Aires.
