Trump floats Venezuela as 51st US state at Texas rally

Corpus Christi — Donald Trump has suggested that Venezuela become the 51st US state and that its citizens elect a governor instead of a president, speaking at a rally beside an oil tanker at the port of Corpus Christi, Texas. The event, held to back Republican candidates a week before the November 3 midterm elections, marked the arrival of the first shipment of one million barrels of Venezuelan oil under an agreement between Washington and Caracas.

Trump told the crowd that the United States was bringing out a lot of Venezuelan oil for itself and that the country could become prosperous — perhaps, he mused, as a prosperous 51st state, according to MercoPress. Instead of a president, he said, Venezuelans could hold an election for a governor, pointing to the country's oil wealth.

The president described the relationship with Caracas as very good and framed the shipment as a historic gain for US control over a major share of world oil supply. The crude, which he described as free, will be refined in Texas, including in Corpus Christi. He said billions of dollars were being invested by the biggest oil companies.

It is not the first time Trump has raised annexation. In February he suggested Venezuela could become the 53rd state, after Canada and Greenland, and in August he shared a map of the country in the colours of the US flag captioned "51st state". Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has rejected the idea on several occasions, saying in July that Venezuela has more than two centuries of sovereignty.

The remarks come amid close cooperation between the two governments. After the US military operation on January 3 that removed Nicolás Maduro from power — he is now jailed and on trial in New York — Washington recognised Rodríguez's government, lifted sanctions on her and her brother, National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez, and in August sealed an oil agreement giving it majority control over a significant share of Venezuela's reserves. The State Department has said that under the roadmap negotiated with the opposition, Rodríguez should leave the presidency vacant in 2027, although no date has been set for the presidential election.

The rally came two days after opposition leader María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela after nearly ten months abroad. Trump said he hoped Machado would remain safe, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington had urged Rodríguez to allow her return. The acting president dismissed the opposition leader's arrival as a show. The November 3 midterms and the eventual scheduling of Venezuela's presidential vote will test how far Washington's roadmap — and Trump's statehood talk — actually goes.