Venezuela vowed not to ‘hand over’ its oil. Trump aims to grab a windfall.

As Nicolás Maduro’s vice president in Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez once accused her political rival of planning to hand over the country’s riches — its vast oil reserves — to the United States.

“They are her owners,” Rodriguez said in 2024 of María Corina Machado, then the U.S.-backed opposition leader. “Her master gives her orders to do what? To hand over the oil, the gas, the gold … to hand over and trample on our historical dignity.”