Washington, Jan 29
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told lawmakers that Venezuela under Nicolas Maduro had become a strategic base for China, Russia, and Iran in the Western Hemisphere, warning that Beijing had been receiving Venezuelan oil at deep discounts while expanding its influence close to the United States.
"We had in our hemisphere a regime operated by an indicted narcotrafficker that became a base of operation for virtually every competitor, adversary, and enemy in the world," Rubio said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday (local time).
He said China was receiving Venezuelan oil at "about $20 a barrel discount" and, in some cases, "they weren't even paying money for it. It was being used to pay down debt that they were owed."
"This is the oil of the people of Venezuela, and it was being given to the Chinese as barter," Rubio said, adding that China, Russia, and Iran were all operating from Venezuela.
Rubio described the situation as "an enormous strategic risk for the United States not halfway around the world, not in another continent, but in the hemisphere in which we all live."
He said Washington's move against Maduro was aimed at ending that dynamic and regaining leverage. "It was an untenable situation, and it had to be addressed," he said.
Rubio argued that the US-led oil "quarantine" -- which he stressed was "not a blockade" -- had sharply reduced China's access to discounted Venezuelan crude.
"China can buy Venezuelan oil, but they're going to have to buy it like everybody else in the world is going to have to buy it," he said. "At the normal price."
He said oil revenues from sanctioned Venezuelan crude are now being placed under US oversight.
"The funds from that will be deposited into an account that we will have oversight over, and you will spend that money for the benefit of the Venezuelan people," he said.
Rubio said China's broader strategy in the Western Hemisphere relies on economic leverage rather than ideology.
"They're very interested in telecommunications. They're very interested in building and controlling key infrastructure. They're very interested in critical mineral rights," he said, adding that Chinese companies often secure footholds through "bad contracts" and debt dependency.
He said China's influence in the region has begun to erode, citing Panama's exit from the Belt and Road Initiative and political shifts in Latin America.
Rubio said the US objective is to prevent Venezuela from again becoming "a playground for Iran, Russia, and China in our own hemisphere."
- IANS
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