Edmundo González Urrutia questions social impact of oil deal between Venezuela and US

Opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia weighed in on the recent oil agreement between the United States and Venezuela. According to CNN en Español, the pact gives Washington control of more than 20% of Venezuela’s crude reserves for 25 years and provides for the development of 17 fields with proven potential of 65 billion barrels and output above 1.5 million barrels per day.

Given this scenario, González Urrutia warned of the fundamental difference between the arrival of large sums of resources and their real impact on the population. “Venezuela’s recovery cannot be measured only by the barrels it manages to produce again, but by the lives that this wealth allows to rebuild,” he said. He also noted that the country has received large sums of money in the past, but stressed that there is a great difference between resources coming in and those resources reaching people’s lives, raising the question of whether oil will benefit all of society or only a few.

The debate over oil rents comes amid marked economic volatility for the country. According to data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Venezuela’s real GDP growth registered 4.0% in 2023 and 5.3% in 2024, slowing to 1.5% in 2025. For the following years, the agency’s projections point to growth of 4.0% in 2026 and 6.0% in 2027, figures that correspond to forward-looking estimates and not observed data.

For its part, the newspaper El Comercio said the multimillion-dollar injection opens the door to the recovery of an industry battered by years of deterioration, although various analysts warn that turning those reserves into higher production will depend on sustained investment, legal certainty and solid institutions.

For González Urrutia, recovering the industry is necessary, but he insisted that priority must be reflected in rebuilding housing, care in hospitals, the functioning of schools and the improvement of public services.

Archive, 2024. Edmundo González Urrutia. Photo: Adriana Núñez Rabascall (VOA), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.