March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum met with Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Wednesday afternoon after arriving in the South American country earlier in the day, in an encounter filmed briefly by media outlets.
The two met with the U.S. representative in Venezuela, Laura Dogu, in Caracas' Miraflores presidential palace. Burgum met earlier with executives from foreign mining companies, two sources said, as the interim Venezuelan government weighs changes to mineral
regulations.
The visit is part of U.S. efforts to open Venezuela to American investment, especially in oil, gas and minerals, as the Trump administration tries to exert more control over the country following a January U.S. raid that captured President Nicolas Maduro. It is the second visit by a U.S. cabinet secretary since the ouster of Maduro, who courted the likes of China and Russia as allies.
In public, Trump has heaped praise on Rodriguez for cooperating with the U.S. and hailed Venezuela as “our new friend and partner” in his annual State of the Union address. Behind the scenes, the Trump administration has been applying pressure, building a legal case against Rodriguez that could include corruption and money laundering charges, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing four people familiar with the matter.
Burgum, who also heads the U.S. Energy Dominance Council, which focuses on boosting U.S. energy production, is in Venezuela to discuss supply chains for critical minerals, the Venezuela Affairs Unit, as the U.S. diplomatic mission in Venezuela is known, said in a post on X.
MINING LAW REFORMS
Venezuela's national assembly is preparing a reform of the country's main mining law, including provisions that would allow foreign companies to exploit gold, diamonds and rare earths, Rodriguez's brother Jorge Rodriguez, the assembly's head, said this week. Venezuela's current mining legislation dates to 1999.
The South American country owes billions of dollars to industrial conglomerates, oil and mining companies after deep waves of nationalizations two decades ago, including to Crystallex, Gold Reserve and Rusoro Mining.
Burgum is paying attention to the mining law proposal, the sources told Reuters, and met on Wednesday morning with several mining companies. He is expected to meet with oil and gas companies on Thursday to discuss expansion and investment, the sources added. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited last month.
Exploration has not yet taken place in Venezuela to confirm reserves of rare earths, a grouping of 17 minor metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion. Rare earths are a subset of critical minerals, much of which is produced globally by China.
A report from the Venezuelan government in 2018 on mineral deposits used key mining industry terms like reserve and resource interchangeably, making it difficult to ascertain what the true measurements are. An official map published in 2021 showed reserves of antimony, copper, nickel, coltan, molybdenum, magnesium, silver, zinc, titanium, tungsten and uranium, but did not list volumes.
As part of bilateral agreements, Iranian companies in past years have explored for mining resources in the country, but the work did not lead to investments.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga and Reuters)
