← Videos · Energy & Permitting

Wright in Caracas: Interim President Rodríguez Is Enthusiastic, Business Climate Improving Since January 5

February 12, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:10:18

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright, interviewed by Bloomberg in Caracas after about two days with interim President Delcy Rodríguez, said she is absolutely receptive — that they had hours of discussions in the palace and traveling — and that she is quite enthusiastic, crediting President Trump’s groundbreaking diplomacy with changing the history of Venezuela and of American foreign relations, according to Wright.

Wright said Nicolás Maduro had been briefly discussed, but that Venezuela has its own constitution, rules, and internal politics, and that he was there about the future rather than the past, according to the interview. Asked whether business can feel Venezuela is investable, Wright said the last five weeks have shown yes: the United States has worked carefully with Rodríguez, who has made enormous, rapid changes, and since January 5 there is already a better business climate for Americans, with Venezuelans smiling and local businesses optimistic about a return flow of Venezuelans if the path continues, according to Wright.

Asked what it means on the ground that the president said the United States was in charge of Venezuela, Wright said more than 20 years of failed diplomacy had failed to change Venezuela’s trajectory, and that the new approach gives the United States so much influence it can nudge things in the right direction, including building trusting relationships, redressing past wrongs, and changing the hydrocarbon law, with other laws and courts to be reformed, according to Wright. He said the United States, the world’s largest oil producer — producing more than Russia and Saudi Arabia combined — does not seek an OPEC seat, but wants growing oil, gas, coal, nuclear, and geothermal production worldwide, according to the interview. Bloomberg noted Wright was the highest-ranking U.S. official to set foot in Venezuela since Maduro’s capture earlier in the year, according to the broadcast.

Why it matters

The Caracas interview is the energy secretary’s on-the-ground status report on the post-Maduro opening: named interlocutor, a January 5 start date for business-climate changes, and hydrocarbon-law reform as the stated next step.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins Bloomberg in Caracas, Venezuela - February 12, 2026”, 2026-02-12 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-02-12). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.