President Donald Trump announced he has canceled further military strikes planned on Venezuela on Friday morning.
Trump announced the decision in a social media post on his Truth Social account. The “second wave of attacks” was not publicly known, and it is currently unknown when they were supposed to have occurred. Trump said he gave the reprieve to Venezuela due to the synergy between collaborative efforts between his administration and the interim leader of the country, Delcy Rodriguez, and her administration. The impetus for Trump’s decision appears to be Venezuela’s release of political prisoners.
“Venezuela is releasing large numbers of political prisoners as a sign of ‘Seeking Peace,’” Trump said in his post. “This is a very important and smart gesture.”
Venezuela’s interim government announced it would free an “important number” of political prisoners held under the former Maduro regime, the Washington Examiner previously reported. The freeing of these prisoners was announced by Jorge Rodriguez, brother of Venezuela’s new leader. He stressed the importance of freeing the prisoners as a matter conducive to “unity and coexistence.”
“In order to contribute and collaborate in the effort that all of us must make for national unity and peaceful coexistence, the Bolivarian government, together with the institutions of the state, has decided to free an important number of Venezuelan and foreign individuals,” Rodriguez said on Thursday.
Trump expressed optimism about the joint efforts in rebuilding Venezuela so far, stating that the interim administration and the U.S. are “working well together.” He then stated that it was due to these acceptable cooperative efforts that he decided to call off the previously unknown strikes.
“The U.S.A. and Venezuela are working well together, especially as it pertains to rebuilding, in a much bigger, better, and more modern form, their oil and gas infrastructure,” Trump stated. “Because of this cooperation, I have cancelled [sic] the previously expected second Wave of Attacks, which looks like it will not be needed, however, all ships will stay in place for safety and security purposes.”
ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF MADURO OUSTER IN VENEZUELA ARE BROAD AND DEEP
He also added that oil corporations would be investing over $100 billion into new initiatives in Venezuela.
“At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” Trump added.
The decision to call off further military strikes and the meeting of oil companies to invest in Venezuela’s future come less than a week after Trump gave the approval for Operation Absolute Resolve, the military operation that led to the capture of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.