President Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that Venezuela could become the 51st US state, speaking at a rally in Corpus Christi, Texas, where he pointed to a tanker he said carried one million barrels of Venezuelan oil. The Trump Venezuela 51st state remarks were reported by MercoPress.
According to MercoPress, Trump said Venezuela could "maybe someday soon" become a prosperous 51st state and suggested its citizens elect a governor instead of a president. He said the tanker carried the first shipment under an agreement between Washington and Caracas.
Trump described the oil as free and said it would be refined in Texas, including in Corpus Christi, according to MercoPress. Speaking to reporters earlier on Tuesday, he called the shipment a "gift" from Venezuela, Al Jazeera reported.
The Guardian World reported that Trump said the oil was being provided to the United States "at zero cost to the American taxpayer" and called it "the greatest oil victory in history." He also claimed the agreement with Venezuela’s interim government would cover "billions" of barrels of oil. These are Trump’s claims. The outlet did not include figures from the Venezuelan government or the oil companies.
Interim leader Delcy Rodriguez has not commented on the specific shipment, according to Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera also reported that it was not immediately clear under what pretext the oil was shipped or whether Trump’s details were correct.
The 51st-state idea is not new. According to MercoPress, Trump said in February that Venezuela could become the 53rd state, and in August he shared a map of Venezuela in US flag colours captioned "51st state." Acting President Delcy Rodriguez has rejected the idea several times, MercoPress reported.
The broader context includes a deal announced in August by the Trump administration. Al Jazeera reported that it gives the Pentagon a 35 percent stake in North America Blue Energy Partners, which oversees 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.
Washington acted against Nicolas Maduro in a US military operation on January 3, after which Maduro was taken to New York to face trial, according to MercoPress and the Guardian World. The US then recognised Rodriguez’s government, the outlets reported.
What happens next is partly set out in the reporting. Trump’s rally took place a week before the November 3 midterm elections. The oil is due to be refined in Texas, and MercoPress reported that the presidential election in Venezuela still has no date.
The key facts come from three full-length articles: MercoPress, the Guardian World and Al Jazeera. No independent confirmation of the cargo, its price or its terms was found, and no response from the State Department or the White House to the 51st-state remarks appeared in these sources.
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This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.