Trump reveals $100 billion plan to ‘rebuild’ Venezuela as Nobel winner Maria Corina Machado heads to DC

When asked if he planned to meet Machado following US strikes on Venezuela, that led to the capture of its president Nicolas Maduro, Trump said in his reply, “Well, I understand she’s coming in ‍next ⁠week sometime, and I look forward to saying hello to her.”

This will be Trump’s first meeting with Machado, who said earlier ​this week that she hadn’t spoken to ‌the US leader since she won the Nobel Peace Prize in October last year. Speaking at Fox News’ “Hannity” program earlier, Machado had said she wanted to “personally” thank the president for Maduro’s capture.

Last weekend, Trump, however, dismissed the idea of working with Machado, saying “she doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” the report quoted.

The White House did not immediately respond when reached for details on the meeting.

On the future of Venezuela, Trump said, “We have to rebuild the country. They couldn’t have an election,” he said. “They wouldn’t even know how ‌to have an election right now.”

Trump said he will meet with oil ⁠executives at the White House on Friday.

Those ⁠oil companies, according to Trump, will play a key role in rebuilding Venezuela’s oil industry. “They’re going to rebuild the whole oil infrastructure. They’re going to spend ‌at least $100 billion and it’s an unbelievable oil that they have, and an unbelievable quality of oil and ‌amount of oil,” he said.

Venezuela holds the world’s largest oil reserves but accounts for less than 1% of global production. Trump on Tuesday said that Venezuela would supply between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States. With oil trading at roughly $56 a barrel, the transaction could be worth as much as $2.8 billion.