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People from Venezuela and neighbouring countries: share your reaction to US raid

As Donald Trump prepares to make his first public appearance since Venezuela’s former president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared in a US court and pleaded not guilty to all charges, there is growing international concern over the shock US military operation in Venezuela, which the UN human rights office has said undermined a fundamental principle of international law. We would like to hear from Venezuelans, both in the country and abroad, about how you are feeling in the wake of these events – either positively or negatively – and what concerns or hopes you have for Venezuela’s future. You might want to share how this is affecting you personally, your family, or people you know on the ground. We are also interested in hearing from people in neighbouring countries that have been mentioned by Donald Trump and senior US officials – including Colombia and Cuba – about how the actions of the US and Trump’s rhetoric are being received where you live, and what impact you fear or expect they could have. If you’re having trouble using the form, click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here.

Europe live: Russia deploys naval escort for oil tanker near Iceland

Meanwhile, a lot of attention is being given to an ageing oil tanker, formerly known as Bella 1 and renamed as Marinera, which is now going through the Icelandic territorial waters. The Russian Navy has reportedly deployed a submarine and other naval vessels to escort the tanker, previously involved in Venezuelan oil exports, amid growing speculations the US and allies are monitoring its movements. The tanker has recently switched to Russian flag in an apparent attempt to evade scrutiny, according to US media reports. As my colleagues explained earlier this week: “As Bella 1, the tanker had been preparing to pick up oil from Venezuela last month before the US Coast Guard approached it on 20 December, on suspicion that its country of registration was not valid. The ship was said to be registered in Guyana. The crew refused to allow it to be boarded and the vessel fled, during which time it re-registered as the Marinera in the Russian port of Sochi. Its tracking transponders, which had been turned off since mid-December, were restored as it headed north. Bella 1 had been under sanctions by the US treasury since July 2024, accused by the American authorities of being involved in carrying illicit cargo for a company owned by Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese group.” The New York Times reported that three other previously sanctioned tankers seen in Venezuelan waters have also re-flagged to Russia.

Wager platform Polymarket not paying out on bets on US invasion of Venezuela

The online wager platform Polymarket has angered some gamblers by declaring it will not pay out yet on millions of dollars’ worth of bets on a US invasion of Venezuela, arguing that the capture of the then president, Nicolás Maduro, does not qualify. Before Donald Trump’s forces captured Maduro on Saturday morning, some traders appeared to have anticipated the shock move by placing bets on “prediction markets”. These are gambling platforms that allow individuals to wager on a range of markets that have been created by the host website. They are typically binary bets, punting on yes/no or higher/lower outcomes. Last Friday an anonymous trader on Polymarket appeared to invest $30,000 (£22,343) on the market: Maduro out by 31 January 2026. After Maduro’s capture was announced on Saturday morning, the trader seemed to have made profits of $436,759.61. After Polymarket clarified that the seizure of Maduro did not qualify for a winning bet, the odds of an invasion before the end of January crashed to below 5%. Traders have placed more than $10.5m on bets of an invasion this year, with the majority on a 31 January deadline. The remainder have put money on contracts for the end of March and December. Some traders have bet tens of thousands of dollars on the question. Polymarket was approached for comment. On its website, the platform states that the bet refers to “US military operations intended to establish control”. It added: “President Trump’s statement that they will ‘run’ Venezuela while referencing ongoing talks with the Venezuelan government does not alone qualify the snatch-and-extract mission to capture Maduro as an invasion.” Traders on the platform have expressed their anger at Polymarket’s position. A user named Skinner wrote: “Polymarket has descended into sheer arbitrariness. Words are redefined at will, detached from any recognised meaning, and facts are simply ignored. That a military incursion, the kidnapping of a head of state, and the takeover of a country are not classified as an invasion is plainly absurd.” Polymarket, which only last year gained regulatory approval to operate in the US, is one of the many prediction platforms that have started to gain popularity in the US. The site does not have a licence to operate in Great Britain. The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, has taken advisory roles at Polymarket, as well as its peer Kalshi.

Wednesday briefing: What Europe’s silence over Venezuela says about its fear of Trump

Good morning. The dramatic seizure of Nicolás Maduro from Caracas by US forces, to face trial in New York, has sent diplomatic shock waves around the world. For European leaders, it has exposed an uncomfortable dilemma: how to welcome the removal of an authoritarian ruler without endorsing an action that many legal experts say tramples over international law. Politicians in opposition, of course, are freer to speak their minds. In the UK, the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said that “where the legal certainty is not yet clear, morally I do think it was the right thing to do”, while Liberal Democrat Ed Davey demanded that Keir Starmer condemn what he unequivocally described as an “illegal action in Venezuela”. That freedom is not always afforded to those in power, whose calculations are shaped by the realpolitik of international diplomacy. For today’s newsletter, I spoke to our diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, about how European governments have responded to the US intervention – and what their careful, often coded language reveals about Europe’s priorities, its anxieties, and the limits of its leverage in dealing with Donald Trump. First, the headlines. Five big stories Greenland | Donald Trump and his advisers are looking into “a range of options” in an effort to acquire Greenland, noting in a White House statement on Tuesday that using the US military to do so is “always an option”. UK politics | The government must find ways to reconnect emotionally with voters, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff is said to have warned cabinet ministers, in a meeting where the prime minister said they were in “the fight of our lives”. Crans-Montana fire | Authorities in Crans-Montana have said the bar that caught fire in the Swiss ski resort on New Year’s Eve, killing 40 mainly young partygoers, had not been inspected by safety officers for the past five years. Spain | A foundation representing Princess Leonor, the 20-year-old heir to the Spanish throne, has warned that scammers are using AI-generated videos of the princess posted by fake profile pages to cheat social media users out of money. US politics | The Trump administration has abandoned efforts to combat child exploitation, human trafficking and cartels as it diverts thousands of law enforcement personnel to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Democratic senators said in a letter to the White House. In depth: Why Europe is biting its tongue over Venezuela If the reaction from Europe has felt muted, even evasive, that is largely by design, Patrick Wintour tells me. The implication behind most of the response, he says, is, “We don’t agree with it, but we’re not going to say anything about it, because there’s no value in doing so – in that it’s not going to serve any practical purpose.” *** How have European leaders reacted? European leaders have broadly welcomed the end of Maduro’s rule, while avoiding explicitly endorsing how it came about. Statements from Brussels, London and Paris have stressed the need for a “peaceful and democratic transition”, repeatedly invoking the importance of international law – without specifying whether they believe the US breached it. Patrick says France has gone furthest in voicing concern, warning that the operation violated the principle of non-use of force, while Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, described the intervention as legitimate. Downing Street has been among the most cautious, he says. “The UK position has been more,‘We believe in international law, but we say this largely in the abstract, and we don’t apply any kind of judgment’.” *** What’s behind this public response? Patrick says much of Europe’s restraint is driven by a single overriding priority: Ukraine. European governments are determined not to antagonise Trump at a moment when his backing is still seen as crucial to any future security guarantees for Kyiv. Public criticism, officials believe, would achieve very little practically, but could risk undermining private influence. This is especially true of the UK, where Patrick tells me the government is “absolutely determined to ensure that America plays an active role in providing security guarantees in the event of a peace settlement. Anything that gets in the way of that by angering Trump is really not going to fly inside the Foreign Office or the Cabinet Office.” There is also uncertainty about what the US intends to do next in Venezuela. While Washington has removed Maduro, it has not dismantled their state or security apparatus, in what appears to be a deliberate attempt to avoid civil war – a lesson Patrick says has been drawn from past US military interventions in Iraq and Libya. It is, he says, “a sort of partial regime change … They decapitated the regime by capturing the leader, but left the body still functioning.” *** Doesn’t this leave European leaders looking weak? Critics argue that such caution carries its own risks. Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs select committee, has warned that failing to condemn the operation could embolden China and Russia to pursue similar actions in their own spheres of influence. Health secretary Wes Streeting, meanwhile, has described the episode as a “morbid symptom” of a rules-based international order that is “disintegrating before our eyes”. But Patrick noted that the UK foreign policy establishment remains deeply reluctant to jeopardise their security, intelligence and defence relationship with Washington – a relationship still seen as the bedrock of Britain’s national security. This isn’t a new position for the UK, although the character of Trump has thrown it into sharp relief. Patrick says every president has posed the dilemma: “To what extent do you need to assert yourselves to gain respect, or do you need to flatter and hope that that will give you some private influence?” *** How should Europe handle US threats to Greenland? The bigger question, Patrick argues, is whether Europe is approaching a genuine red line. A US move against Greenland – a sovereign territory of Nato member Denmark – would represent something fundamentally different, threatening the alliance itself and forcing a far more unified European response. “Denmark is not Venezuela. There has been a democratic election, and Greenland itself has chosen to be part of Denmark – so it’s not comparable,” Patrick says. More broadly, Trump’s actions point towards a world carved up into spheres of influence, where great powers decide outcomes and medium-sized states are sidelined. Europe, he says, is being forced to confront an uncomfortable truth: “Europe itself must decide whether it wants to be a superpower – and if it does, it can’t just be a soft power or a trading superpower. It has to be a defence superpower.” What else we’ve been reading It’s not easy being a northerner in spaces surrounded by southerners, my colleague Robyn Vinter notes, but she writes beautifully on why she holds tightly to her identity in the face of ridicule and outright hostility. Aamna Keith Stuart on our games desk has this very straightforward list of the 15 best PS5 games to play in 2026. I can vouch for Baldur’s Gate 3, and am itching to try Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Martin Five years after the attack on the US Capitol, Donald Trump and other Republicans are attempting to rewrite history, Guardian US reporter Sam Levine reports. Aamna I long ago stopped obsessively collecting physical music media but remain intrigued by the reissue repackage industry. Paul Sinclair at SDE has a highly detailed look at what box set fanatics can expect in 2026 from the likes of McCartney, Bowie, Prince, Queen et al. Martin Venezuela’s gold reserves are kept in a basement in the Bank of England. The US shock attack and kidnap of its leader raises the uncomfortable question: who now owns them? Richard Partington investigates. Aamna Sport Football | West Ham are drifting towards the most gutless of relegations after Morgan Gibbs-White seals a late 2-1 win for Nottingham Forest at a half-empty London Stadium. Cricket | England hit the wall on day three at the Sydney Cricket Ground, with dropped catches and some scattergun bowling lengths; as Australia batted all day to reach 518 for seven, 134 runs ahead on first innings. Football | Ole Gunnar Solskjær could make a shock return to Manchester United as interim manager, with Jason Wilcox, the director of football, considering him a prime candidate for the role. The front pages “UK and France seal ‘coalition’ deal to send troops to postwar Ukraine” is the Guardian splash. Top story at the Times is “UK agrees to boots on the ground in Ukraine” and the i paper has “Boots on the ground: UK military bases in Ukraine to keep peace”. The FT runs with “Venezuela’s oil output faces ‘collapse’ as US naval blockade chokes exports”. “Drink-drive changes to kill off rural pubs” leads the Telegraph, while the Mirror has “Drive to safety’” and the Sun “One for the road”. The Mail has “Police blunder to defy belief”. Today in Focus The Palestine Action hunger strikers close to death Three activists awaiting trial are refusing food and their health is failing rapidly. Will the government intervene? Haroon Siddique reports. Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad The Guardian’s “Hope appeal” has now exceeded £800,000 in donations. The generous support from Guardian readers will benefit grassroots charities working to foster tolerance and combat division, racism and hatred. The 2025 Guardian appeal, which is nearing its close, is raising funds for five partners: Citizens UK, the Linking Network, Locality, Hope Unlimited Charitable Trust, and Who is Your Neighbour? These charities offer a common purpose and positivity in the face of extremist violence and harassment, anti-migrant sentiment and the rise of what has been described as “1970s-style racism”. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

Saudi official says Yemen separatist leader fled after failing to board plane for peace talks

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday said the leader of a separatist movement in Yemen “fled” to an unknown location after saying he would travel to the kingdom for negotiations over the future of southern Yemen. A statement from Maj General Turki al-Malki, a spokesperson for a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, represents the latest twist in tensions between it and the Southern Transitional Council (STC), backed by the United Arab Emirates. Al-Malik said the council’s leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, had been due to take a flight to Saudi Arabia. But while other council officials took the flight, he said al-Zubaidi did not. “The legitimate government and the coalition received intelligence indicating that al-Zubaidi had moved a large force – including armoured vehicles, combat vehicles, heavy and light weapons, and ammunition,” al-Malki said. Al-Zubaidi “fled to an unknown location.” There was no immediate comment from the council, known by the acronym STC. The confusion over al-Zubaidi’s whereabouts came as the Saudi-led coalition said it had undertaken “limited pre-emptive strikes” in Yemen to stop the UAE-backed separatists from expanding the conflict. Domestic sources and sources within the STC reported more than 15 strikes in the province, the birthplace of al-Zubaidi. Following the developments, the Saudi-backed presidential council stripped al-Zubaidi of his membership and referred him to the public prosecutor on charges including high treason, state news agency SABA said. The decision, issued by the council chair, Rashad al-Alimi, accused al-Zubaidi of inciting armed rebellion, attacking constitutional authorities and committing abuses against civilians in southern Yemen. For years, the STC has been part of Yemen’s internationally recognised government. The feud between the UAE and Saudi Arabia has fractured a coalition originally created to fight the Iran-aligned Houthis, who are still the dominant military force in Yemen. The Houthis seized the Yemeni capital of Sana’a in 2014 and Gulf countries intervened the following year in support of the internationally recognised government, splitting Yemen into rival zones of control. With Reuters and Agence France-Presse

EU reveals weak hand as Trump raids Venezuela and threatens Greenland

On Sunday morning, a little more than 24 hours after US bombers, fighter jets and helicopters attacked Caracas and special forces seized Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, the European Commission posted on social media. The EU’s executive said nothing about an operation that multiple national leaders outside Europe, opposition politicians inside it and pretty much every available legal expert had denounced as a gross violation of international law. Instead, it wished Europeans a safe return from their holidays and pointed out that if they could travel across borders with only their ID cards and were guaranteed refunds or compensation in the event of bus, train or plane delays, it was thanks to the EU. This stuff – free movement, consumer protection, holiday entitlements – the EU can do. Condemning a powerful, longtime ally and standing up for liberal democracy, multilateralism and the rules-based international order? Not quite so much. The EU is in a deep, deep bind over Donald Trump’s smash-and-grab raid on Venezuela – just as it is over his repeated assertions that the US “absolutely” needs to take control of Greenland, a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. “If Europe acquiesces in US actions against the Maduro regime, it risks weakening the legal principles that underpin its opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” said Alberto Alemanno, a professor of EU law, neatly summing up the dilemma. “If, however, it condemns those actions,” Alemanno said, “Europe risks alienating its primary security guarantor and straining transatlantic unity – at a moment when collective defence against Russia is especially critical.” Europe’s leaders, who have heard Volodymyr Zelenskyy say a peace deal is “90% ready” and on Tuesday met the Ukrainian president and the US envoy Steve Witkoff in Paris to discuss US-backed postwar security guarantees for Kyiv, are desperate not to derail it. More broadly, they are also keen to avoid antagonising a US president who has made no secret of his contempt for Europe and its leaders for fear of reviving trade tensions or undermining already withered US security guarantees to Europe generally. The weak position this has left them in was on full display in the aftermath of Trump’s Venezuela operation. In a statement, France’s Emmanuel Macron said he would shed no tears for Maduro. In an even more contorted response, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, also stressed Maduro’s illegitimacy as Venezuela’s leader – and added that “legal assessment” of the US raid was “complex and requires careful consideration”. Italy’s Giorgia Meloni went further, describing the attack as “legitimate” self-defence, while the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, resorted to the well-worn formula that the bloc was “following the situation closely”. A few leaders, most notably Spain’s Pedro Sánchez, were more outspoken. Spain “did not recognise the Maduro regime”, the Spanish prime minister said bluntly, “but neither will it recognise an intervention that violates international law”. But the overall response came across as circumspect and was perhaps best characterised by the fact that Trump himself gleefully endorsed the French president’s remarks, reposting them on his Truth Social network. Europe’s populist far right, meanwhile, had a field day. Unburdened by the responsibilities of government, Marine Le Pen of France’s National Rally (RN) declared the sovereignty of states “inviolable, sacred … and never negotiable”. Her protege, Jordan Bardella, also jumped at the chance to make elected leaders look bad, saying that the “forcible overthrow of a government from the outside” was never “an acceptable response”, even to a “bloodthirsty and ruthless dictatorship”. Was Europe’s response right? Nathalie Tocci of Rome’s Istituto Affari Internazionali argued forcefully it was not. “The more European countries act as colonies, unable and unwilling to stand up to Trump, the more they’ll be treated as such,” she said. Dr John Cotter, a researcher in EU constitutional law at Keele University, was equally forthright. European leaders who failed to condemn the US attack “out of fear of provoking Trump’s ire” were missing two fundamental points, he said. “First, Trump clearly doesn’t care what they think. Second, he couldn’t hold them in more contempt anyway. In fact their mealy mouthed responses … will only heighten his contempt. European leaders might as well have shown some dignity.” There are signs, though, that European resolve may finally be hardening when it comes to Greenland – led by straight-talking Denmark. “I have to say this very directly to the United States,” the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said. “The US has no right to annex any … of the Kingdom of Denmark.” Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, went further, accusing the US of “completely and utterly unacceptable” rhetoric and telling it to give up “fantasies about annexation”. On Tuesday, the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK backed Denmark. “Greenland belongs to its people,” they said. “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.” Few experts think Trump will attempt a military intervention on the Arctic territory, which is covered by the Nato alliance. But nor do many rule out a political operation to boost US military clout on the strategically located, resource-rich island. And while their verbal rebuff of Trump’s Greenland threats may be significantly stiffer than their responses to his Venezuela raid, no one is willing to say what actual steps the EU and its members may take were the US to attempt any kind of grab. Mujtaba Rahman of the Eurasia Group risk consultancy warned: “A possible US intervention in Greenland is the biggest source of risk to the transatlantic alliance, and to intra-Nato and intra-EU cohesion – arguably far greater than [the risk] presented by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.” To receive the complete version of This Is Europe in your inbox every Wednesday, please subscribe here.

‘Yamagata is ramen’: Japan’s city of noodle fiends revels in ‘capital’ status

The road to ramen paradise ends in the unlikeliest of places. At Men Endo, located in a suburban street, next to a school and a low-rise apartment block, bowls of noodles disappear in a flurry of slurps, gulps and hurried but heartfelt exchanges of appreciation between customer and chef. On a cold afternoon in Yamagata, a city in Japan’s northeast, the wait for a seat at Men Endo’s counter is mercifully short. Inside the door, a ticket dispenser lists myriad options, from regular shoyu (soy sauce) ramen – in small, medium or large portions – to maji soba, a soupless symphony of toppings, sauce and noodles that diners are invited to mix together with their chopsticks, along with a spoonful of spicy miso. That Men Endo – men is from menrui, the Japanese word for noodles, and Endo is a family name – has managed to secure a loyal clientele – which today includes construction workers, couples and a solo diner from the Guardian – is no mean feat. In Yamagata, 340km north of Tokyo, noodle fiends have around 230 establishments to choose from, with several opening their doors early for those craving comfort food. “People here don’t ask each other where they want to go for dinner, but which ramen restaurant to go to,” says Osamu Higuchi, assistant manager in Yamagata’s brand strategy section. It is that level of dedication to eating at restaurants – as opposed to making ramen at home or grabbing a lunchtime cup of the instant variety – that has earned Yamagata, a modestly sized city of 240,000, the title of Japan’s ramen capital. The accolade is a source of pride, its current reign the result of an aggressive campaign to outperform its closest rival, Niigata, which shocked the ramen world by taking the title in 2021. Last year, Yamagata’s households each spent an average of ¥22,389 [£106] on ramen – well ahead of second-placed Niigata on ¥16,292, according to the internal affairs ministry, which will soon announce the winner for 2025. Only the annual ranking for gyoza consumption generates similar levels of anticipation. That title currently belongs to Hamamatsu in central Japan. “When Niigata won it was a huge shock,” says Higuchi. “Eating ramen is a big part of daily life here … to be honest it hurt our feelings.” But the city’s appetite for ramen has its drawbacks. Frequent consumption can increase health risks, mainly due to the soup’s high salt content, according to a study of almost 7,000 people aged 40 and over led by Yamagata University. People who have the dish three or more times a week have a mortality risk 1.52 times higher than those who eat it once or twice a week, according to the four-year study published in October in the Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging. The experts added, however, that the statistics did not mean regular consumption was a “definite danger”, given that those most at risk possibly indulged in other habits “common among frequent ramen” eaters, such as excessive overall salt intake, drinking and smoking. “I’ve been trying not to drink all of the soup, but it’s very moreish, and the chefs go to a lot of effort to make it so it feels rude to leave any,” says Higuchi who, after consulting a smartphone app, announces he has polished off 225 bowls of ramen so far this year. “That said, households here spend an average of about ¥2,000 a month on ramen … it’s not that much when you think about it.” Health risks aside, no Japanese dish commands as much loyalty, or generates as much discussion, as ramen. Popularised in Japan after the second world war – thanks to returning soldiers who fondly recalled how it had sustained them in Japanese-occupied China – it became a symbol of recovery and resilience. Ramen critic Rikiya Yamaji believes Yamagata has perfected the art of adapting what was originally a Chinese dish to suit the Japanese palate. “Ramen has been around in Japan since the Meiji era [1868-1912], but became particularly popular when it was served at food stalls after the war,” said Yamaji, who gets through 30 bowls a month and has been known to visit several ramen shops a day. “A distinctive feature of Japanese food culture is its ability to ‘localise’ dishes introduced from overseas … curry rice is a good example. In the same way, ramen has evolved into new food culture with a uniquely Japanese approach, like Tex-Mex cuisine in the US. It used to be considered cheap and filling, and it’s still convenient and inexpensive, but these days there is more emphasis on quality and fusion ingredients.” The noodle dish with humble origins is now the yardstick by which Japan’s regions measure their culinary caché, triggering fierce rivalries and competing claims to have achieved the perfect marriage of soup, noodles and toppings. Varieties range from miso ramen in the far north, to those sitting in a pale but pungent pork-based broth in the deep south. The roots of Yamagata’s obsession lie in the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake, which killed more than 100,000 people in the Tokyo area. Ramen chefs who fled the destroyed capital to work at soba restaurants in Yamagata shared their ramen-making skills and found a population with an appetite for steaming hot noodles to get them through the city’s bitterly cold winters. Households would order ramen, rather than trays of sushi, to serve to guests – a custom that gave children an early introduction to a dish they continued to eat into adulthood. After it ceded its title to Niigata a few years ago, ramen shop owners and officials in Yamagata teamed up to create an organisation dedicated to re-establishing the city as Japan’s “ramen kingdom”. Higuchi is confident Yamagata will retain the title when the government announces the 2025 results in early February. “If our ramen businesses do well, then so does the local economy – farmers and soy sauce manufacturers, even the companies that produce hot towels for restaurants,” he says. “I don’t think it’s going too far to say that Yamagata is ramen.”

Venezuela ‘turning over’ $2bn in oil to US, Trump says, in move that could cut supply to China

Donald Trump has said Venezuela will be “turning over” $2bn worth of Venezuelan crude to the United States, a flagship negotiation that would divert supplies from China while helping Venezuela avoid deeper oil production cuts. “This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump said in a post online. Venezuelan government officials and state company PDVSA did not provide comment. Venezuela has millions of barrels of oil loaded on tankers and in storage tanks that it has been unable to ship due to the blockade imposed by Trump, as part of the pressure campaign that culminated in the toppling of Nicolás Maduro who was seized from his country by US forces over the weekend. Top Venezuelan officials have called Maduro’s capture a kidnapping and accused the US of trying to steal the country’s vast oil reserves, however Tuesday’s agreement is a strong sign that the government is responding to Trump’s demand that they open up to US oil companies or risk more military intervention. Trump has said he wants interim president Delcy Rodríguez to give the US and private companies “total access” to Venezuela’s oil industry. US energy secretary Chris Wright is in charge of executing the deal, Trump said, adding that the oil will be taken from ships and sent directly to US ports. Supplying the trapped crude to the US could initially require reallocating cargoes originally bound for China, two sources had told Reuters earlier on Tuesday. China has been Venezuela’s top buyer in the last decade and especially since the United States imposed sanctions on companies involved in oil trade with Venezuela in 2020. US crude prices fell more than 1.5% after Trump’s announcement, with the agreement expected to increase the volume of Venezuelan oil exported to the US. That flow of oil is currently controlled entirely by Chevron, PDVSA’s main joint venture partner, under a US authorisation. Chevron, which has been exporting between 100,000 and 150,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan oil to the US, is the only company that has been loading and shipping crude without interruption from the South American country in recent weeks under the blockade. It was not immediately clear if Venezuela would have any access to proceeds from the supply. Sanctions mean PDVSA is excluded from the global financial system, its bank accounts are frozen and it is blocked from executing transactions in US dollars Hours before Trump’s announcement on Tuesday, Rodríguez hardened her tone against the US, saying in a televised address that “no external agent governs Venezuela” – a clear rebuttal to the US president’s claim that, after the capture of Maduro, the US would now run the South American country. It marked another shift in tone from Maduro’s former vice-president. After being sworn in as president by Venezuela’s supreme court on Saturday, Rodríguez released a conciliatory statement late on Sunday in which she “invited the US government to work together on an agenda of cooperation”. In Tuesday’s address, however, Rodríguez reverted to harsher language, describing Saturday’s strike – the first large-scale US military operation on South American soil – as a “terrible military aggression” and a “criminal attack” whose “absolutely illegal outcome, in violation of international law”, was the “kidnapping” of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. “We are a people who do not surrender, who do not give up, and we are here, governing together with the people. The government of Venezuela rules in our country – no one else. There is no external agent governing Venezuela. It is Venezuela, its constitutional government, and the consolidated power of the people,” said Rodríguez, who had served as Maduro’s vice-president since 2018. She declared a week of mourning for members of the military killed in the raid. Reuters contributed to this story