Trump's Trials - US eyes Venezuelan oil as ties thaw and pressure over fuel prices rises

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

Seven years after it was lowered, the American flag is flying again over the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, as Washington eyes Venezuelan oil to ease fuel prices amid global tensions.NPR's Eyder Peralta reports. Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's terms. I'm Scott Detrow. President Trump promised every single American that he would make America safe again. Every single day in the Oval Office, the president looks at us and says, why haven't we done more? This will be an entirely different country in a short period of time. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president. With a focus on ways his administration is pushing the boundaries of presidential power. Here's the latest from NPR. From NPR news, I'm Michelle Martin.

Now to Venezuela, where the American flag is flying again over the U.S. embassy in Caracas for the first time in seven years. This is happening as the White House is looking at Venezuelan oil as a possible way to lower fuel prices that are higher because of the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran. NPR's Ader Peralta is with us now from Venezuela's capital, Caracas. Adder, good morning. Hey, good morning, Michelle. So how significant is this reopening of the embassy? Well, I mean, it means the U.S. and Venezuela have normalized diplomatic relations. And the break in relations happened in 2019.

At the time, the U.S. recognized Juan Guaido, not Nicolas Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela, and Maduro throughout the American diplomats. Now, of course, the U.S. seized President Maduro, but the U.S. has also now officially recognized his vice president as the leader of Venezuela, and not the opposition, which was widely seen to have won the last elections in 2024. And now the U.S. is flying the flag over the embassy once more. It's a lot of plot twists. But in broad strokes, it means enemies have become friends,

and a lot of this friendship is convenience. The U.S. wants its oil companies in Venezuela, and Venezuela needs to restart its oil industry. You've been reporting about oil. What have you seen? Yeah, I went to Maracaibo, which is the capital of World. oil here. But what you see is the decay of the oil industry. Once, grand hotels are falling apart, homes are abandoned, malls are

empty. The workers here used to make serious money, and now they're getting paid a couple of hundred dollars a month. Production has plummeted to a third of what it was at its peak. And I've been talking to the workers of the state oil company, and one of them says, when you go out into Lake Maracaibo, you see a spaghetti of floating pipelines. They've been abandoned, and they're full of gas, so they've floated to the surface. Essentially, all of them, two of which are operations managers say corruption is rampant. The Chinese and the Russians have tried to get oil out of Venezuela,

but they didn't have the know-how or they were thwarted by corruption. But all the workers I've spoken to keep coming back to one point. The oil facilities, both on land and at sea, were built mostly with American technology and the big multinational companies have the know-how. The workers say a lot of the rigs and wells are not actually hopelessly broken. They say they might need a fitting or a part that was impossible to get with U.S. sanctions in place. But if Chevron or Shell really step in, they say they can get things running up. They can get things up and running fairly fast. And you've had a chance to talk to a lot of regular Venice Williams,

which you were telling me is actually easier than it has been in years when you've been trying to do reporting there. What are they telling you? Are they as hopeful? I mean, I think the most interesting thing here is that Venezuelans seem ready for reconciliation. There was a forum on Friday that joined government-affiliated journalists and independent journalists. And the independent journalist complained about a repressive government that had thrown them in jail, that had kidnapped them. And the government-affiliated journalists complained that even after 25 years of this government of Chavismo, they felt invisible and unacknowledge.

They complained that the independent journalists had made enemies out of them. the most expressed feeling by both sides was the past is the past and we need to look forward. At one point, the Minister of Culture, Ernesto Villegra, stood up in front of the crowd and said, look, I don't want a single journalist in jail and there was huge applause. And it felt cathartic, like some of the deep divisions of Venezuela were being talked about in the open. And in that moment, at least, it felt like Venezuela could find a peaceful way forward. But, you know, one political scientist warned me, he said, don't get too excited.

It's too early. It's not even clear this is a transition. And history tells us that transitions like these, by and large, do not end well. That is, NPR's Ader Peralta and Karas. Ader, thank you. Thank you, Michelle. Before we wrap up, a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters

break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus support. who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.