US Venezuela Oil Deal Discussion

Secretary Rubio, what would your message be to Latin

Americans who might look at

the Venezuela oil deal and think that the US government's interested in

extracting

resources or just sending troops?

No, I, I-

What's your, what's your message?

Well, what I would say to anyone who's concerned

that the US is doing something

negative towards, uh, the Western Hemisphere with regards to

energy is those oil

fields were once dominated by China and Russia and Iran.

By the way, Iran also had some concessions,

and they're no longer there.

So I think they're much better off partnering with the United States.

They will benefit greatly from it.

These fields were, in many cases, non-productive.

In essence, the, the Chinese and Russian companies held these

fields but never turned them into anything.

These fields are gonna be productive, and they're gonna generate royalties and

revenues for the Venezuelan people, eventually through a democratically

elected

government, hopefully sooner rather than later, and,

and, and directly benefit the

people of Venezuela as opposed to going into the pocket of some, uh, you know,

corrupt government official or in the hands, uh, uh, of American and

Venezuelan adversaries, really.