Citizens view US stake in oil reserves as a surrender
CARACAS (AP): Nothing has shaped what it means to be Venezuelan today more than oil. For more than 100 years, in good times and bad, Venezuelans’ identity has been built around the belief that their country’s bountiful oil resources belong to the people, not a government or a company. This belief, and a troubled nation’s pride, took a bruising last week when acting President Delcy Rodríguez agreed to give the United States control of roughly one-fifth of Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world.