US completes first $500m sale

The United States has completed its first sale of Venezuelan oil, valued at $500 million, according to an administration official.

Additional sales of oil are expected in the coming days and weeks, the official added.

In the days since the United States attacked Venezuela and captured its president, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this month, President Donald Trump has made it clear that he plans to tap into the country’s vast oil reserves, reports CNN.

Meanwhile, Trump said Wednesday he had held a “long call” with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez, the first known contact between the two leaders since the ouster of Maduro.

“We just had a great conversation today, and she’s a terrific person,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He later said on social media that he and Rodriguez had discussed “many topics,” including oil, minerals, trade and national security.

“We are making tremendous progress,” Trump said. After Maduro’s capture in a deadly US special forces operation on January 3, Trump said he was content to let his former deputy Rodriguez take over -- as long as she gave the United States access to Venezuelan oil, reports AFP.

He has suggested the United States could maintain oversight of the Caribbean country for years. Rodriguez has been walking a diplomatic tightrope, trying to meet Trump’s demands without alienating Maduro loyalists, who control Venezuela’s security forces and feared paramilitaries.

Writing on Telegram, she described her call with the US leader as “productive and courteous” and characterized by “mutual respect.”