Alejandro Betancourt, Trump’s Partner in Venezuelan Oil Deal, Has Faced Investigations
New York Times · LC · trust 55/100
Alejandro Betancourt has been targeted by multiple investigations. Now he’s the U.S. government’s unrivaled partner in President Trump’s bid to control Venezuelan oil resources.
Listen · 13:11 min Share full article 0 A refinery operated by the Venezuelan state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, in Punto Fijo. Credit... Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times By Simon Romero Julie Turkewitz Edward Wong and Alan Feuer
Simon Romero and Julie Turkewitz have covered Venezuela for years. Edward Wong reports on U.S. foreign policy, and Alan Feuer covers the U.S. Justice Department.
As part of the Trump administration’s takeover of Venezuela’s oil industry, the United States is forming an extraordinary partnership with Mr. Betancourt. Under the arrangement , the Pentagon could seek to take a large stake in his company, a deal that defies easy comparison in recent American history, oil analysts say.
That would make Mr. Betancourt the main partner of the Trump administration as it pushes not just to control the sale of Venezuela’s oil, but to own a chunk of it directly. And it would place Mr. Betancourt at the core of Venezuela’s deepening transformation from a sovereign nation into essentially a vassal state of the United States.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio brought up Mr. Betancourt in a White House meeting in the spring. He had decided that Mr. Betancourt could be a viable partner for the United States because he had experience forging oil deals in Venezuela and increasing production there, said a person familiar with U.S. efforts to support Mr. Betancourt.
That meant Mr. Betancourt would need to be able to travel freely. Officials from the State Department and the Justice Department intervened in the Swiss investigation by reaching out to Swiss counterparts to persuade them not to go forward with the extradition, according to people familiar with the matter.
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