Rubio says Venezuelan president ‘suckered’ Joe Biden

During the Biden administration, the former president came under fire for having eased sanctions on Venezuela out of desperation for its oil. When Biden put the boot on the throat of the oil and gas industry, he had to go begging other countries for oil, one of them being Venezuela, only the entire scheme backfired on him.

Sec. of State Marco Rubio just blasted the former administration, saying that nothing like that will happen with Trump in the Oval Office.

We need your oil

Once the war between Ukraine and Russia started, Biden halted oil purchases from Russia, but he needed to replace that supply.

In March 2022, Biden opened discussions with Venezuela, but that quickly blew back in his face.

Among those calling out Biden was Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was in the thick of the GOP primary at the time, having, in part, stated, “Many Americans and a lot of Floridians are very angered by the Biden administration‘s recent attempts to legitimize the brutal Maduro regime in Venezuela.

“This is part of a familiar pattern of the Biden administration thumbing its nose at millions of people here in Florida, just like when it took FARC off the terrorism list and didn’t lift a finger to help the democracy protesters in Cuba.”

Ease up

Fast forward about eight months, and Biden decides to resume the talks that had been suspended back in March, as well as easing up on sanctions against Venezuela to open the flow of oil.

Or at least that is what Biden thought would happen, but he ended up getting played. Chevron had been issued a license to expand production, Venezuela also agreed to a free and fair election, and there was also supposed to be a humanitarian fund created.

Then the Council on Foreign Relations reported, “That is not how things have worked out. That fund has not been created. There is more and more repression. It is already clear that the 2024 presidential election will be a farce; the regime has prevented all the major opposition candidates from running (declaring them, in the Spanish term, inhabilitado).”

The statement later added, “So who has benefited from the Biden move to loosen the reins on Chevron? Maduro has.”

Will not be suckered

Trump has obviously held President Maduro’s feet to the fire, and there are whispers that Trump is trying to remove him from the picture, either voluntarily or by force.

Sec. of State Rubio commented on Trump’s efforts, stating, "The Maduro regime is not a legitimate government. What it is is a transshipment organization. It allows cocaine and other drugs that are produced in Colombia to be trafficked through Venezuelan territory and – with the cooperation of elements of the regime – are allowed to… leave Venezuela on airplanes and ships headed towards the United States."

After breaking down all the deals Maduro has broken and how he manipulated Joe Biden, he concluded, "They suckered Joe Biden. They're not going to sucker Donald Trump.”

Trump has to be careful how he handles this because if he circumvents Congress, he could get himself into trouble. However, one thing is for certain… Venezuela and the world in general are both better places without Maduro in the picture.