While Venezuelans Struggle To Recover From Earthquake, Trump Claims Control Over Their Oil

By Staff Writer, NewsAmericas Now

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Sept. 1, 2026: While Venezuelans are still digging out from earthquake devastation with dwindling medical support, the Trump administration has secured a deal granting the United States access to 65 billion barrels of the country’s oil reserves, with the Pentagon itself positioned to take a direct financial stake in the private company involved.

A new needs assessment from the International Rescue Committee warns that Venezuela’s health system is not prepared for the loss of international emergency medical teams still responding to the country’s earthquakes. International medical team presence has fallen 58% since mid-July, dropping from 12 teams to five as of August 10, and is projected to reach zero by late September. Nearly 30% of health facilities assessed are structurally damaged, and nearly 20% are non-operational, cutting off primary care access for as many as 124,500 people.

“We are in the middle of a precarious transition,” said Nicole Kast, IRC Country Director for Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. “The teams that came to help are leaving on schedule, but the country’s hospitals aren’t ready to pick up where they left off. If we don’t invest now in the local health system, the families who survived the earthquakes will be the ones who pay for that gap.”

Hospital José María Vargas now has just eight operational beds for 96 hospitalized patients. Pariata Peripheral Hospital’s bed capacity has dropped from 108 to 35, and Macuto’s maternity hospital has been fully evacuated. Nearly 80% of people surveyed identified emotional distress as their leading concern, and 97% said they need psychosocial support that isn’t currently available.

Meanwhile, a deal for Venezuela’s oil

Venezuelans light candles amid the rubble of a collapsed building from the state-run OPP housing blocks two months after the 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes in La Guaira, Venezuela on August 24, 2026. The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 tremors on June 24, 2026, devastated the coastal state of La Guaira, where at least 190 buildings fell apart. Venezuela’s interim government reported 6,509 deaths on August 24, 2026, exactly two months after the twin earthquakes. (Photo by Maryorin Mendez / AFP via Getty Images)

As that health crisis unfolds, President Trump announced last week what he called “the biggest oil deal in world history,” an arrangement granting Washington access to 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil. According to reporting by The New York Times, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio negotiated the deal directly with the Venezuelan government, securing the oil “through a partnership with private business.”

That business is North American Blue Energy Partners, led by Alejandro Betancourt López, a businessman the Times described as a powerful and polarizing figure who has been investigated in Spain and Switzerland on money laundering and tax fraud accusations, though never charged. Betancourt was previously barred from foreign travel in Britain under a Swiss extradition agreement; the Times reported the State Department pressed Swiss and British officials to ease those restrictions so he could travel to Venezuela for the deal.

The Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital would have the option to acquire up to a 35% stake in Betancourt’s parent company through financial instruments known as warrants, the Times reported, along with preferential access to much of the oil produced. The federal government would also be guaranteed 20% of the company’s output at production cost, with the State Department holding right of first refusal on the rest.

Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez pushed back on concerns the deal amounts to a US takeover of the country’s oil industry. “One thing must be absolutely clear: Venezuela retains ownership and sovereignty over its resources,” she said in a weekend address broadcast on state television.

The deal has drawn criticism from Democratic lawmakers. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement reported by the Times that “President Trump’s effort to turn the U.S. military into an investor in Venezuelan oil is a blatant abuse of power and taxpayer dollars.”

NewsAmericasNow will continue tracking Venezuela’s earthquake recovery and the fallout from the US oil deal. Reporting from The New York Times contributed to this story.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Venezuela Wants Its Gold Back From The UK But What About The Oil Revenue The US Is Holding?