Maduro Plea to OPEC

Maduro’s plea to OPEC signals mounting pressure at home and abroad, with experts telling Fox News Digital the regime is “broke” and unlikely to get help from oil producers.

Washington’s latest sanctions and airspace closure add to the squeeze.https://t.co/ksirCGPZEi

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… President Maduro’s appeal to oil-rich nations Sunday laid bare just how isolated he has become, a Latin American oil expert says, before describing Venezuela as "broke" and drowning in $150 billion of debt.

The Venezuelan dictator's plea came in a letter in which he appealed to OPEC for support, claiming that U.S. "direct aggression" was undermining Venezuela’s energy sector and threatening global oil stability.

In a letter to OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al Ghais and published by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil, Maduro wrote, "I hope to count on your best efforts to help stop this aggression, which is growing stronger and seriously threatens the balance of the international energy market, both for producing and consuming countries."

"OPEC is unlikely to get involved," Francisco J. Monaldi, Latin American Energy Policy Director, told Fox News Digital.

"Saudi Arabia is the key player, and they will not want to confront the Trump Administration. But more importantly, they never get involved in this kind of conflict," he added.

Monaldi stressed that Maduro knows his appeal was only symbolic and had "framed" the situation to suit his own narrative over oil.

"Maduro knows perfectly well that he is not going to get the reaction that he would want, but is framing the conflict as a conflict about oil," he argued.

But he emphasized that Washington’s goals extend beyond energy. Venezuela, he said, has endured years of mismanagement and instability, making it not necessarily a safe bet.

"The U.S. has priorities to preserve the Western Hemisphere as a region in which geopolitical rivals are not strong," Monaldi said.

"The U.S. wants to reduce crime and drug trafficking in the region and the negative effects that Venezuela has had, you know, that have impacted the rest of the Latin American region," he added.