U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on May 21 that Chevron’s oil license in Venezuela will expire at the end of May, as planned.
“The pro-Maduro Biden oil license in Venezuela will expire as scheduled next Tuesday May 27,” Secretary Rubio wrote on social media platform X, without providing further details.
On March 4, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) set April 3 as the deadline for Chevron to shut down operations in Venezuela.
The announcement left Chevron, the only major U.S. oil company still operating in Venezuela, with one month—instead of the usual six months—to cease its activities in the South American country. Twenty days later, on March 24, OFAC announced an extension of the license for the U.S. oil company to operate in Venezuela until May 27.
In November 2022, the Biden administration granted a license to Chevron after representatives of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro resumed talks with Venezuelan opposition leaders in Mexico City.
The Epoch Times contacted the State Department for additional comment.
The confirmation by the secretary of state was welcomed by some Hispanic lawmakers, including Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.).
“We stand with the Venezuelan people and with freedom. Not one more dollar for tyrants,” she posted on X.
“Thank you, Secretary, for speaking with the strength that the moment demands,” Salazar wrote. “Doing business with Maduro is lining the pockets of a criminal narco-regime that represses, imprisons, and exports terror through Tren de Aragua.”
Separately, Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) thanked the Trump administration for the move.
“Thank you, President Donald Trump, for putting our national security interests first by standing firm against the anti-American narco-dictator Maduro, who has turned a blind eye to the migration of the violent group [Tren de Aragua], partners with global terrorist networks, and has allowed Venezuela to become a hub for transnational crime in the region,” the Florida representative wrote on X.
Tren de Aragua is a Venezuelan criminal gang that the United States designated as a terrorist organization earlier this year.
