dead leaves, desperate summers

US. President Donald Trump appears satisfied with the arrangement and has praised Rodríguez for doing a “great job.” Rubio also told Congress that Venezuela has agreed to submit monthly budget requests for State Department approval to receive its share of oil revenue.[...]

The Trump administration has issued temporary sanctions relief in the form of waivers (general licenses) that authorize U.S. companies and individuals to do business in various aspects of Venezuela’s oil, mining, and financial sectors. These waivers can be revoked at any time and have been issued in a policy vacuum. [...]

Despite Rubio’s insistence before Congress that commodities trading companies Trafigura and Vitol were a “short-term fix” to quickly sell the first tranche of oil, both companies—each of which has a history of bribery schemes related to oil sales—remain involved in Venezuela five months later. A third trader, GE Warren, has since entered the picture, and the Trump administration has offered no explanation for their ongoing role. [...]

The system’s opacity is not limited to oil. The Trump administration is also controlling Venezuelan gold and other mineral exports. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, after leading a delegation of mining executives to Venezuela in March, indicated that he secured “$100 million of gold” and helped broker a deal for Venezuela to sell up to one thousand kilograms of gold to trader Trafigura. Based on the restrictions in the waivers published by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control related to gold and other minerals, export revenue is also going into U.S. Treasury accounts under the same opaque system as the oil funds.

Unknown, Green Bathroom - Line Holtegaard , 2024.

Danish , b, 1980 -

Ionian Sea - Ruth Stage , 2024.

British , b. 1969 -