Venezuela has decreed the opening of its entire oil chain; the fiscal fine print and control of the money are missing

Since Executive Order 14373, Venezuela’s oil revenue flows into accounts custodied by the U.S. Treasury and is spent through a monthly budget approved by the State Department. Some ~US$8 billion moved in four months, with audits announced but unpublished. For the investor, the double lock is both a guarantee —less revenue diversion— and a risk —State discretion, opacity and Washington politics— in the same mechanism.

Venezuela is already dollarized de facto —over half the population backs the dollar— but the bolívar remains the sole legal tender and banks cannot lend in hard currency. Formalizing it clashes with Article 318 of the Constitution and would require National Assembly reform. Washington is pushing —Bessent: invoice trade in dollars; the Pentagon: the dollar as legal tender— and the earthquake makes defending the bolívar costlier. The verdict: de facto dollarization accelerates; the de jure kind remains a deliberate political decision, not an emergency trigger.

After the earthquake, OFAC issued General License 60, which temporarily lifts the sanctions prohibitions for relief through October 23, 2026, and the U.S. pledged US$150M through the UN and aid partners. A descriptive map of the perimeter: which transactions are authorized (including third-country transfers), what the license leaves out (no property unblocked, no ordinary remittances or commerce), and through which vehicles the money flows. Information, not advice.