Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez criticized the US for “false” claims about drugs, democracy and human rights, saying they had been used as a pretext for a real target: “oil”.“In his address to the Venezuelan Parliament, Rodriguez said they were open to energy relations that benefit all parties and where economic cooperation is clearly defined in trade agreements.The remark came after Trump declared that the US would receive full cooperation from the Venezuelan regime and control the country and its vast oil reserves for years. Caracas is giving Washington “everything we think is necessary” and the US will remain a political overlord there indefinitely, the US president said.In a video that went viral, Rodriguez said: “We are an energy powerhouse, we really are. It has caused us enormous problems because you all know that the North’s energy greed is consuming our country’s resources. And we denounced all the falsehoods about drug trafficking, democracy and human rights. They were the excuses because what has always been there is the (threat) that Venezuela’s oil must be handed over to the global North.”Rodríguez also said her government was open to energy partnerships and trade deals with other nations, highlighting the country’s vast oil and gas reserves and willingness to work within international law.“And here we are, our stance has been very clear. Venezuela is open to energy relations that benefit all parties and where economic cooperation is clearly defined in trade agreements. This is our stance as it represents the diversity of our energy relations,” she added.Venezuela’s interim president had previously defended plans to open her country’s oil market to Washington.Rodríguez said Wednesday that the U.S. attack on the ouster of her predecessor Nicolás Maduro had placed a “stain” on the two countries’ relations but that it was “not unusual or irregular” to trade with the U.S., adding that Venezuela was “open to energy relations that benefit all parties.”U.S. forces seized two sanctions-hit tankers on Wednesday and the government announced it would manage all sales of Venezuela’s future crude production and oversee global sales of the country’s petroleum.
