Posted on 11/28/2024 3:38:33 PM PST by Theoria
Lobbying efforts push for negotiations with strongman Nicolás Maduro instead of seeking regime change
American oil executives and bond investors are urging President-elect Donald Trump to abandon his first-term policy of maximum pressure on Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and instead strike a deal: more oil for fewer migrants.
The quiet lobbying effort comes as Maduro hardens his authoritarian grip on the country with threats to arrest more opposition activists. They still challenge the July elections, in which Maduro’s regime claimed victory without presenting evidence.
Some businessmen such as Harry Sargeant III, a billionaire GOP donor known for playing golf at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club one day and jetting off to Caracas the next, are trying to show the incoming administration what they say are the perks of negotiating with Maduro instead of seeking to dislodge him.
Last week, a shipment of Venezuelan asphalt sourced by Global Oil Terminals, part of a Florida conglomerate founded by Sargeant, landed at the Port of Palm Beach, just a few miles from Trump’s Florida residence. It was the first asphalt delivery from Venezuela to the port since Trump’s first administration imposed oil sanctions in early 2019.
The shipment, made possible by a license that the Treasury Department under President Biden gave some oil companies to restart operations in oil-rich Venezuela, highlights the pitch from advocates of a policy shift. They say making a deal with Maduro would cut migration and help temper U.S. energy prices.
An agreement would also help check adversaries such as China and Russia.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Ain’t Globalism wonderful.
How about they take your invaders back and we don’t need their oil.
That’s funny! Is this the Onion?
We don’t need their crap people or oil.
No deal. F their oil. We can drill for our own. Simply send them all back and don’t let any more in.
Reward bad behavior....no thanks....
No. How about no Venezuelan migrants and no Venezuelan oil.
Realpolitik says a deal should be struck.
If bad behavior was the gauge by which we do trade, we’d have no trade at all.
NO! and their oil is trash...
Immigration should have nothing to do with foreign countries, it is purely within the hands of each individual country, it is a purely internal policy.
All I see are corporate scum lobbying Trump to cut a deal with a bad actor. No guarantee that the “fewer migrants” part will be honored, AFAIC.
How bout Maduro gets MIRVd with an Oreshnik?
We could contract the hit, tell Vlad if he does that we’ll lift some sanctions
strike a deal: more oil for fewer migrants.
Oh,hail naw...
We have our own oil...and we are gonna send back the criminals they sent us.
That sounds like a better deal.
And you will take your gangbangers back.
Or we will airdrop them into your capital.
Their oil is high sulphur. Not many refineries can refine it. Citgo is one of the few. I have done some work in their refineries.
No deal.
Take Alberta’s oil instead.
Here’s the deal, “You step down and allow the actual winner of the presidential election take office, and we won’t use kinetic means to remove you from the planet.”
How about: take you migrants back or we blow you completely up? We are not going to need your oil.
Take back the prisoners you released into our Nation. Because were sending ‘em back with prejudice.
...then POTUS might...MIGHT...take your call.
Until then, suck a lemon.
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