WASHINGTON DC: US President Donald J. Trump ignited an online firestorm with a cryptic social media post on Truth Social that has both his supporters and critics scrambling for meaning. The post consisted solely of an image that had ‘acting president of Venezuela’ written beneath his photo where he has a grim face. There was no additional text, explanation, or context provided, leaving observers to interpret its meaning in vastly different ways.
Earlier in the day, Trump while addressing reporters aboard Air Force One said, “Venezuela is really working out well. We’re working along really well with their leadership, and we’ll see how it all works out.”
Trump also spoke with the interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez saying, “She’s been very good. She asked us if we could take 50 million barrels of oil, and I said yes, we can, it is worth $4.2 billion, and it is on its way right now to the United States…”
This development came after the President on Friday (local time) signed an Executive Order declaring a national emergency to protect Venezuelan oil revenue held in US Treasury accounts from legal attachment or judicial seizure, saying the move is aimed at advancing US foreign policy and national security objectives.
According to the White House, the Executive Order blocks any attachment, judgment, lien, execution, garnishment or other judicial process against Venezuelan oil revenues and diluent sales deposited in US Treasury accounts.
These funds, termed “Foreign Government Deposit Funds,” are to remain frozen unless specifically authorised under the new order. The order also prohibits any transfer or dealing in the funds and overrides earlier directives that may have regulated or restricted such transfers or dealings.
It states that the oil revenues are the sovereign property of Venezuela, held in US custody for governmental and diplomatic purposes, and cannot be claimed by private parties. Before this, US President Donald Trump on Friday (local time) met with top oil and gas executives at the White House to promote major investments in Venezuela’s energy sector, and said that “a lot of money is going to be made”.
Earlier, on Saturday, Venezuelan Interim President Delcy Rodriguez stated that the US action that led to the capture of deposed dictator Nicolas Mauro and his wife “will go down in history as a major stain” on relations between Washington and Caracas.
In a speech broadcast on the state channel Venezolana de Television (VTV), Rodriguez reiterated that the Executive Branch “will not cease to condemn the criminal aggression” that culminated in the capture of Maduro, currently detained in New York. (ANI)
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