The Korea Times

The rape of Venezuela

CAMBRIDGE — Shortly after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, US President Donald Trump praised the country’s new rulers. Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president who assumed power after his arrest and transfer to the United States, was “doing a great job,” Trump said, adding that “oil is starting to flow, and large amounts of money, unseen for many years, will soon be greatly helping the people of Venezuela.” Judging by Trump’s pronouncements, Venezuela ought to be booming. And by Trump’s favorite metric, it is: oil production has increased, albeit modestly, from 908,000 barrels per day in late 2025 to 1.03 million in April. With the US effectively overseeing the country’s oil revenues, Venezuelan crude—once sold at steep discounts under American sanctions—is now priced much closer to the unusually high international benchmarks, courtesy of the Iran war. In theory, Venezuela should be awash in dollars, but is it? The macroeconomic data tell a radically different story than the triumphalist narrative coming out of Caracas and Washington. Since