委内瑞拉政治领袖玛丽亚·科里娜·马查多（María Corina Machado）表示，特朗普政府逮捕前独裁者尼古拉斯·马杜罗后开启了“自由市场新时代”，她正将自己的国家宣传为美国的顶级石油合作伙伴以及“西半球希望与财富创造的灯塔”。
在休斯顿CERAWeek能源会议上，马查多向数千名石油和能源行业高管发表讲话。她最近曾作为政治流亡者在美国生活，她预测委内瑞拉将很快成为美国繁荣的关键贡献者。
她感谢总统唐纳德·特朗普和能源部长克里斯·赖特为委内瑞拉开启“新篇章”奠定了基础，称这将极大造福美国。她吹捧委内瑞拉的能源潜力，称其石油储量为“全球最大已探明石油储备”，天然气供应全球第七大。
“几十年来，所有这些都被意识形态和腐败所禁锢；那个时代正在结束，”她说，并补充道，“一个新时代已经开始，其积极影响将是前所未有的。”
马查多表示，自特朗普政府开展秘密行动推翻社会主义委内瑞拉独裁者以来，“已采取重要步骤重新参与委内瑞拉石油和天然气行业，并开始解决多年的制度衰退和腐败问题。”她预测委内瑞拉将很快“从美洲的犯罪中心转变为全球能源领域的驱动力。”
“1月3日之后，我们终于感到自由就在眼前；我们已经触碰到了自由，”她说。
尽管现任委内瑞拉总统德尔西·罗德里格斯（Delcy Rodríguez）是马杜罗的副手，马查多预测，至少九个月后举行的下一次选举将显示出对民主自由市场资本主义的“压倒性支持”。她誓言政府将“让路”，称“我们已经了解了社会主义的代价……我们希望开放市场。”
“从技术角度来看，举行完美、自由和公平的选举至少需要九个月，即40周。但选举将会举行。届时，你们将看到一个国家的觉醒，它将成为西半球希望与财富创造的灯塔。”
演讲结束后，马查多获得了满场石油和能源行业领袖的起立鼓掌。在讨论她演讲的小组中，标准普尔全球副主席丹尼尔·耶金（Daniel Yergin）表示，马查多“回答了能源高管们的许多疑问”。
然而，另一位小组成员、全球能源政策中心高级研究学者路易莎·帕拉西奥斯（Luisa Palacios）表示，在建立足够的信心以吸引大量石油投资之前，委内瑞拉仍有“很长的路要走”。
彼得·皮内多（Peter Pinedo）是福克斯新闻数字版的政治撰稿人。
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6390591712112
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6391444842112
Venezuela on cusp of becoming major U.S. oil supplier after Trump action: Machado | Fox News
Venezuelan political leader María Corina Machado is pitching her country as a top U.S. oil partner and “beacon of hope and wealth creation for this hemisphere” after she said the Trump administration’s arrest of former dictator Nicolás Maduro has opened up a “new era” of free markets.
Addressing several thousand oil and energy executives at the CERAWeek conference in Houston, Machado, who until recently lived in the U.S. as a political exile, predicted that Venezuela will soon be a critical contributor to U.S. prosperity.
She thanked President Donald Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright for laying the groundwork for a “new chapter” in Venezuela, which she said will greatly benefit the U.S. She touted Venezuela’s energy potential, calling its reserves the “largest proven oil reserve in the world” and its natural gas supply the seventh-largest globally.
“For decades, all this was locked away by ideology and corruption; that time is ending,” she said, adding, “A new era has already begun with an upside of a completely different order of magnitude.”
Machado said that since the Trump administration’s covert operation to topple the socialist Venezuelan dictator, “important steps have been taken to re-engage Venezuela’s oil and gas sector and begin addressing years of institutional decline and corruption.” She predicted that Venezuela would soon “turn from the criminal hub of the Americas” and instead become a “driving force in the global energy sector.”
“After Jan. 3, we finally feel that freedom is at the threshold; we are there,” she said.
Though current Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez is a lieutenant of Maduro, Machado predicted that the next election, which she said will likely be at least nine months away, will show “overwhelming” support for democratic free-market capitalism. She vowed that the government would “get out of the way,” saying, “We have learned the cost of socialism… We want open markets.”
“It takes at least nine months, or 40 weeks, from a technical perspective to have perfect, free and fair elections. But they will take place. And when they do, you will see the awakening of a country that will turn into the beacon of hope and wealth creation for this hemisphere.”
After her address, Machado received a standing ovation from the auditorium full of oil and energy leaders. On a panel discussing her speech, S&P Global Vice Chairman Daniel Yergin said Machado “answered a lot of the questions” that energy executives had.
However, another panelist, Luisa Palacios, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy, said Venezuela still has a “long way” to go before enough confidence builds in the country to attract significant oil investment.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6390591712112
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6391444842112
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