WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has defended Washington’s oversight of Venezuelan oil revenues, telling senators that the arrangement was necessary to prevent economic collapse while the country transitions away from corruption and mismanagement.
Rubio on Wednesday (local time) said Venezuela was facing an immediate crisis after the removal of Nicolas Maduro, with oil production continuing but no place to store or sell crude.
“They were producing oil, they were drilling, but they had nowhere to put it, ” he said. “They were facing a fiscal crunch.”