Where is Venezuela's oil money?

Venezuela’s vast oil wealth remains shrouded in secrecy despite the U.S. military intervention that ousted President Nicolás Maduro. While Washington now controls a significant portion of the country's oil revenue, there is a profound lack of transparency regarding the allocation of these funds, which totaled an estimated $13 billion in the first half of the year. This financial opacity has become critical following two devastating earthquakes that caused $2.4 billion in damages, leaving survivors in shelters with little government aid. Although President Trump claims the country is prospering and that oil sales have funded the U.S. intervention, economists and citizens report that most revenue is absorbed by imports, debt, and production costs rather than public relief. Despite congressional pressure for audits, the U.S. State Department has yet to release specific accounting, leaving the timeline and scale of reconstruction efforts uncertain.