Trump did not give a timeline for the trip, which would make him the first US president to visit the country since 1997.
Donald Trump has said he plans to become the first sitting US president to visit Venezuela in nearly three decades.
Trump made the statement to reporters on Friday as he left the White House for the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina, where he met with soldiers involved in the January 3 US kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
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“I’m going to visit Venezuela,” Trump said. He offered few details about the planned visit, telling reporters that “we haven’t decided” on a date.
Still, Trump will become the first sitting US president to visit the South American country since Bill Clinton in 1997, which Trump targeted with crippling sanctions from 2017 to 2021 during his first term.
Earlier this week, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright became The first member of Trump’s cabinet to visit Venezuela and the government led by Maduro’s successor Delsey Rodriguez.
Trump has repeatedly praised Rodríguez, Maduro’s former deputy, while downplaying the prospect of supporting the opposition in the wake of Maduro’s kidnapping.
“They’ve done a great job,” Trump said again Friday. “Oil is coming out, and a lot of money is being paid.”
For her part, Rodriguez has overseen a series of concessions to the US, including freezing oil shipments to Cuba, supporting legislation to open the state-controlled oil industry to foreign companies and freeing hundreds of political prisoners.
On Thursday, lawmakers in Venezuela’s parliament debated a bill granting amnesty to political prisoners, although it had not been approved as of Friday.
Facilitating Approval
Also on Friday, the US Treasury Department announced it was easing some sanctions on Venezuela’s energy sector, the biggest relief since Maduro’s kidnapping.
The department has issued two general licenses, which allow Chevron, BP, Eni, Shell and Repsol to carry out further oil and gas operations in Venezuela. The identified companies already have offices in the country and are among the main partners of state oil company PDVSA.
Another license allows foreign companies to enter into new oil and gas investment contracts with PDVSA in Venezuela.
Any agreements would be subject to separate approval by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and would not extend to entities owned by Russia, Iran, China or nationals of those countries.
Trump has said he is seeking $100bn in foreign investment in Venezuela, while Energy Secretary Wright said earlier this week that Venezuelan oil sales had risen by $1bn since Maduro’s takeover and would reach $5bn within months.
Wright said the US would control the proceeds from the sale until a “representative government” is established in Venezuela.
UN experts have criticized US influence over the country’s natural resources as a violation of citizens’ right to self-determination.
Speaking during a speech at Fort Bragg, Trump took time to praise the operation to kidnap Maduro.
Legal experts called him A clear violation international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty, regardless of whether Washington viewed Maduro as the country’s legitimately elected leader. Disputed elections In 2024.
“Everybody was running for the hills,” Trump said of the Jan. 3 attack, which killed more than 100 Cuban and Venezuelan security personnel, “and that’s what we have. We have the strongest military in the world.”