Experts question legality and transparency of US-Venezuela oil deal

According to the newspaper El Nacional, several experts and lawyers consulted by the news agency Reuters expressed doubts about the legality, transparency and fiscal sustainability of the recent oil agreement between the United States and Venezuela.

The deal was negotiated in secret until last week without a competitive process, which raised questions about the selection of private operators. On the legal front, lawyer José Ignacio Hernández warned of the risk of constitutional nullity, saying there are too many gaps in the oil agreement and that Venezuela's constitution does not allow ceding territory to foreign governments or disposing of oil in that manner.

Along the same lines, economist Francisco Rodríguez demanded greater transparency and noted that Article 150 of the constitution requires approval from the National Assembly for public-interest contracts with foreign states. This institutional requirement seeks to guarantee legislative oversight and the protection of the nation's strategic resources against unilateral executive decisions.

For its part, economist Francisco Monaldi, of the Baker Institute at Rice University, criticized the projected economic terms and said the taxes to be collected, announced by the interim government, are incredibly low. Specialists warn that such conditions weaken Venezuela's institutional framework and undermine long-term legal certainty.

File photo. National Assembly headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela. Photo: OsmanFernandez, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.