The United States is negotiating a status-of-forces agreement with Venezuela that would provide a legal framework for a long-term American military presence in the country, Phoenix News reported Monday, citing a Nov. 3 report in The New York Times. The talks are being led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to the report.
The report landed one day after President Donald Trump, speaking in Washington, described the U.S. operation that removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this year as “our conquest of Venezuela,” Phoenix News reported. The U.S. State Department, according to the same report, said such agreements have been signed with more than 100 countries and are meant to provide a clear legal framework, adding that building bases remains far off.
Why Critics Say the Agreement Is Different This Time
Phoenix News noted a key distinction critics are drawing: in other countries that signed similar agreements, the president remained in his or her own country. Venezuela’s president, the report said, was taken from the capital in a nighttime U.S. military operation and is being held in New York awaiting trial, while the successor now negotiating troop access with Washington is someone the U.S. helped install.
The report also pointed to earlier statements by Rubio. In late January, during Senate testimony, Rubio said the only American military presence Venezuelans would see was the Marine guard at the embassy, according to Phoenix News. But in written testimony submitted at the time, he wrote that the U.S. was prepared to use force if other means failed to secure maximum cooperation from Venezuela.
Trump’s “51st State” Remarks Fuel the Debate
Phoenix News reported that Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of Venezuela becoming the 51st U.S. state. At a port rally in Texas last month, announcing the arrival of the first 1 million barrels of Venezuelan oil, he said Venezuela should become a state with a governor instead of a president, the report said. He had made a similar post on social media in March when Venezuela’s baseball team reached the World Baseball Classic final.
The report quoted a former president of Venezuela’s state oil company as calling the arrangement “new colonialism,” and said many Venezuelans are using the same phrase.
How Delcy Rodríguez Rose to Power, According to the Report
Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice president and a core figure in the Chavista movement, is now acting president. Phoenix News reported that she and her brother, the speaker of the National Assembly, had assured U.S. and Qatari officials even before the military raid that they would cooperate once Maduro was out — though they did not take part in the raid itself and would welcome his departure.
When Maduro and his wife were first taken, the report said, Rodríguez publicly stated that Venezuela had only one president: Maduro. Not long after, she was sworn in as acting president.
The Oil Deals at the Center of the Story
In late January, Phoenix News reported, Rodríguez signed a new petroleum law handing control over oil production and sales to private companies. In August she signed a deal giving 17 strategic oil fields to U.S. partners for joint development without a tender, the report said. Trump claimed the U.S. thereby gained majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil for a century-long term. According to terms seen by U.S. media and cited in the report, the U.S. side can buy 20 percent of output at $30 per barrel, and Venezuela cannot challenge the agreement in its own courts.
Rodríguez’s Treatment of Maduro, and Her Own Legal Troubles
When Maduro’s lawyers in a New York court argued head-of-state immunity, U.S. prosecutors pointed to Venezuela’s silence on the issue as devastating to the claim. Yet when Rodríguez herself was sued in Florida, her embassy immediately sought immunity for her, Phoenix News reported.
Why Washington Chose Rodríguez, and What May Come Next
On the day Maduro was taken, Trump dismissed opposition leader María Corina Machado — calling her a good person but lacking sufficient domestic support — and praised Rodríguez as willing to do what the U.S. deemed necessary. The armed forces and security services remained in Chavista hands after the raid, the report explained, and Rodríguez inherited them directly, allowing her to control the situation.
Machado, who had been in exile for nearly a year, suddenly returned to Venezuela last month; Rubio publicly said Washington had told the Venezuelan government to allow her return. She held a press conference demanding a presidential election before July next year and criticized the oil agreement. Rubio, the report said, declared election planning the only way forward and prepared to use sanctions as pressure. Under the current arrangement, judicial appointments are to be completed around year-end, after which Rodríguez is expected to declare the presidency vacant and begin the election process — leaving the question of military control, and the troop agreement now under negotiation, as the closing piece, Phoenix News reported.
Related reading
