Trump Says U.S. Might Pay Oil Companies To Rebuild Venezuela’s Energy Sector: ‘They’ll Get Reimbursed’

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump said American taxpayers might be on the hook for rebuilding Venezuela’s dilapidated oil sector.

On Saturday, U.S. forces invaded Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro, who pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking in federal court in New York on Monday. Venezuelan officials say at least 80 people were killed during the raid.

The raid was a culmination of a months-long campaign of aggression against Venezuela, as the Trump administration bombed several boats originating from the country and seized two of its oil tankers. Trump maintained that the boats were carrying drugs. On Sunday, the president explained that he is interested in Venezuela’s oil reserves.

“We are going to have to have big investments by the oil companies to bring back the infrastructure,” he said aboard Air Force One. “The oil companies are ready to go, they are going to build back the infrastructure.”

In an interview with NBC News on Monday, Trump stated that the U.S. government may pay oil companies to rebuild Venezuela’s energy industry:

“We have to fix the country first. You can’t have an election. There’s no way the people could even vote,” Trump said about the possibility of a vote in the next month. “No, it’s going to take a period of time. We have — we have to nurse the country back to health.”

Moreover, he said, the U.S. may subsidize an effort by oil companies to rebuild the country’s energy infrastructure — a project he said could take less than 18 months.

“I think we can do it in less time than that, but it’ll be a lot of money,” he said. “A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us or through revenue.”

The president claimed that the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela.

“No, we’re not,” Trump said. “We’re at war with people that sell drugs. We’re at war with people that empty their prisons into our country and empty their drug addicts and empty their mental institutions into our country.”

It is unclear what’s next for Venezuela, whose vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, demanded Maduro’s return. Rodriguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president.

“If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price,” Trump told The Atlantic on Sunday.