U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum highlighted Venezuela's mineral wealth on Wednesday during his visit in Caracas and stated that the «opportunities for collaboration and synergy» between the two countries «have no limits». «Venezuela is an extremely rich country, a country that holds vast reserves not only of oil and gas, but also of critical minerals,» he said. Burgum noted that he was accompanied by representatives of «about two dozen of the largest, strongest, and best companies in the world in minerals and mining». He added that «many of these companies have already worked in Venezuela at some point in their history». In turn, Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez called for speeding up the reform of the Mining Law, which still has to be presented to the Venezuelan Parliament, and whose objective is to expand the legal framework to develop the sector with national and foreign investment. «Venezuela is available to, through cooperation channels, address concrete agendas that benefit both the people of the United States and the people of Venezuela,» she pointed out. The U.S. official's visit comes two days after the president of the Parliament and brother of the acting president, Jorge Rodríguez, stated in an interview that the Legislative Branch is preparing a reform to the law governing mining to allow foreign investment. Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during a military operation that took place on January 3 in Caracas, the United States and Venezuela have entered a new stage of rapprochement that has led Trump to describe the oil-rich country as a «new friend and partner».
