President Donald Trump spoke to the nation about the US kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
Over the weekend, US special forces raided Caracas, abducted the country’s former dictator, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, and took them to New York, where they were both charged with multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine.
What’s next? After Maduro was captured, President Donald Trump said that the US would first take over the administration of Venezuela. “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can make a safe, appropriate and prudent transition,” he told reporters at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. “We will not take the chance of someone else taking power in Venezuela who does not care about the Venezuelan people.”
But fixing Venezuela has big challenges, not least its currency, the Venezuelan Bolivar. That’s down 469% in just 12 months, according to data compiled by Trading Economics.
‘BUILD VENEZUELA’S OIL INDUSTRY:’ TRUMP VOWES US TO BRING BACK POWER AFTER MADURO’S DEPLOYMENT.
A motorcyclist passes in front of an oil painting in Caracas, Venezuela. (Javier Campos/NurPhoto/Getty Images)
The country could solve that by using a so-called currency board that would peg the value of the Venezuelan bolivar to the dollar, Robert Wright, a visiting professor at the University of Austin in Texas told FOX Business. “There has been great success using the money board as most of the time it stabilizes the money,” he said.
That stabilization, if it happens, could also significantly reduce the risk of inflation. In February 2019, the inflation rate reached an all-time high of 344,509.50 %, according to data from the Central Bank of Venezuela collected by Trading Economics. Economists say the real rate is likely to be much higher.
Venezuela’s economic problems, including persistent inflation, are long-standing. And the events of the past decades are largely the result of poor economic policies.
The first major one was in 1976, when the Venezuelan government nationalized all the oil and gas companies operating in the country, which were then owned by the Venezuelan state company, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). Companies that have been nationalized include those formerly owned by Mobil Oil, Exxon Corp, and Royal Dutch Shell, among many others.
People walk down the street in Caracas on Jan. 4, 2026, a day after Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro was captured in a US strike. (Federico Parra / AFP via / Getty Images)
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The Trump administration is not happy about that event, even though it happened a long time ago. “We built the Venezuelan oil industry with American talent, drive, and skill and the socialist regime stole it from us,” Trump said during a news conference on Saturday.
The current situation with the PDVSA is dire, and that problem goes back to the inauguration of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 1999. In 2001, he introduced the so-called “enabling law” that allowed the government to terminate existing contracts, and directly intervene in private business, Pete Earle, director of economics and economic freedom at American Business Research. “Chavez rejected market economics,” he said. In other words, the president was embracing full socialism.
A coast guard boat of the Venezuelan Navy operates off the Caribbean coast on September 11, 2025. (Juan Carlos Hernandez / Reuters)
The next year, 2002, it got worse. Venezuelan workers are holding a massive strike to pressure the president to hold another election. The result? The Chavez government fired more than 18,000 highly skilled workers, mostly from PDVSA. “From that point on, the country stopped being industrial rather than political,” Earle said.
Since then, PDVSA crude oil has fallen. Crude oil production peaked at 3.5 million barrels in December 1997 and recently fell to 1.1 million barrels. Part of that is the appointment of political favorites in the state instead of qualified petroleum engineers.
Over the past few years, the economy has damaged the lives of many Venezuelans. “15% of the population (approximately four million) are in urgent need of food assistance,” according to the United Nations World Food Programme.
A person walks past a gas station of the state oil company PDVSA, in Caracas, on March 16, 2022. (Photos by Gaby Oraa / Reuters)
The food shortage dates back to 2016 when supermarket food shelves were empty and zoo animals were starving. The following year, news broke that thieves had stolen animals from the zoo to eat them.
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Food shortages were mainly caused by bad economic policies. “It is very painful, said Earle. In 2018, the average Venezuelan had lost more than 20 kilograms of weight. Also, there was a sudden return of malaria in nine of the 23 regions of the country. “The possible result is to prevent chaos and make sure that food and services are added again, “he said.
