Elliott Abrams helped shape the Trump administration's first Venezuela policy, when Washington backed acting President Juan Guaidó and pushed for President Nicolás Maduro's removal. Now, nine months after Maduro was ousted, Abrams has gone from one of the strategy's earliest supporters to one of the administration's most prominent critics. In a Washington Post op-ed this week, Abrams called the Trump administration's new oil arrangement with Venezuela's interim government a "shameful sellout," arguing that it gives Washington a stake in Venezuela's oil while strengthening interim President Delcy Rodríguez's hold on power.
The deal gives NABEP, or North American Blue Energy Partners, an oil company run by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, 100-year rights to 17 Venezuelan oil fields holding 65 billion barrels, about a fifth of the country's proven reserves. State Department gets the right to purchase 20 percent of NABEP's output at production cost, and the Department of War gets a 35 percent equity stake in NABEP's parent company. The arrangement has faced opposition across Venezuela's political spectrum while also putting a spotlight on Betancourt, who rose to prominence during the years of the late President Hugo Chávez and Maduro.
He is under an arrest order in Switzerland and is under investigation in Spain over allegations of money laundering tied to Venezuela's state oil company. Through NABEP, a Barbados-registered firm with little public track record and no history of operating in other oil markets, Betancourt is set to control most of the oil fields awarded under the agreement. In defending the deal, the State Department pointed to Betancourt’s track record.
Abrams, who served as Trump's special representative for Venezuela during his first term, spoke with Newsweek about the oil deal, the future of Venezuela's political transition, Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's role, and whether Washington is still committed to bringing democracy to Venezuela. Newsweek: My first question is about something we did at Newsweek a month ago.
We ran a cover story arguing that Trump was right to remove Maduro in January. You also wrote that the U.S. was right to oust him. But a lot has changed since then.
People who supported the raid aren't necessarily as supportive of what has followed. Eight months later, do you think the opportunity to restore democracy in Venezuela is being squandered? Elliott Abrams: I would say it is being squandered or certainly delayed.
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