Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Latin America Brief.
The highlights this week: The United States announces a stake in Venezuela’s oil, four South American countries agree to cooperate on critical minerals, and Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi retires from international competition.
After the U.S. military intervention in Venezuela on Jan. 3, officials from both countries promised major oil sector investments. Several of those deals finally materialized this week.
On Wednesday, U.S. firm Chevron and Italian firm Eni announced new plans for oil production in Venezuela. Chevron aims to increase its production by more than 300,000 barrels per day, or around a quarter of the country’s current output, over the next five years.
But the deal that really turned heads was a recent one announced by the U.S. and interim Venezuelan administrations. The U.S. government will take a partial stake in production at 17 Venezuelan oilfields “at zero cost to the United States” and benefit by buying some of that oil at a discount, the White House said on Monday.
