Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, signed a deal last week authorizing American energy giant General Electric to restore the country’s power grid. While this marks the start of important infrastructure investment in Venezuela, it also provides a real opportunity for the United States that we shouldn’t let slip by. The Trump administration should use American industrial leverage to encourage market-based reforms in Venezuela that would set the country on a path to prosperity.
Rodríguez, who has closely cooperated with the Trump administration after the U.S. carried out a military strike in the country earlier this year to remove President Nicolás Maduro, described the General Electric agreement as “a historic step for Venezuela” to restore “an essential service.” Venezuela’s power system, which was nationalized in 2007 under Maduro’s mentor, Hugo Chávez, is in dire need of repair and investment. The country suffers from rolling blackouts and often lacks electricity for ten hours a day.
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