Trump disavows Florida oil magnate Harry Sargeant’s role in Venezuela
President Donald Trump has publicly disavowed any formal role for Florida energy magnate Harry Sargeant III in U.S. policy toward Venezuela, drawing a sharp line between official diplomacy and the behind-the-scenes maneuvering of a well-connected Republican donor with deep business interests in the country’s oil sector.
In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump described relations between Washington and Caracas as “extraordinary” and praised interim President Delcy Rodríguez as Venezuelan oil production begins to rebound following the Jan. 3 U.S. military operation that ousted Nicolás Maduro and sent him to New York to face narcoterrorism charges.
“We are dealing very well with President Delcy Rodriguez, and her Representatives. Oil is starting to flow, and large amounts of money, unseen for many years, will soon be greatly helping the people of Venezuela,” Trump wrote.
But the president also took aim at a story Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal profiling Sargeant, a Palm Beach County businessman with deep ties to Venezuela’s oil industry and longstanding access to both Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.
“He has no authority, in any way, shape, or form, to act on behalf of the United States of America,” Trump wrote. “Without this approval, no one is authorized to represent our Country.”
The unusually direct rebuke came amid reports that Sargeant has played a role in shaping the new relationship between Washington and Caracas following Maduro’s capture last month. The Florida tycoon helped facilitate a series of meetings between U.S. and Venezuelan officials, including a session last year in Caracas involving Maduro and Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell — talks that laid the groundwork for a politically sensitive arrangement linking oil sanctions relief to deportations of Venezuelan migrants in the U.S.
Sargeant, 68, a former Marine Corps pilot and past finance chairman of the Florida Republican Party, has spent decades pursuing oil and asphalt ventures in Venezuela. Maduro reportedly nicknamed him “Abuelo.” Before U.S. sanctions halted most American dealings with Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, in 2019, Sargeant had secured oilfield agreements and cultivated close relationships with senior officials.
He has described Venezuela as “the greatest investment opportunity since the collapse of the Soviet Union,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
Sources familiar with his efforts say Sargeant has been at the forefront of a group of oil entrepreneurs and bond investors advocating engagement with Caracas rather than a continuation of the “maximum pressure” sanctions strategy implemented during Trump’s initial term. Supporters argue that renewed energy cooperation could help stabilize Venezuela’s economy, curb migration and counter Chinese influence in the region.
Sargeant traveled to Caracas last week to meet with Rodríguez to discuss restarting shipments of Venezuelan asphalt through his company, Global Oil Management Group. Through related investments, he also holds a minority stake in North American Blue Energy Partners, which controls rights to at least four Venezuelan oil fields, aiming to boost production to nearly 400,000 barrels per day. He is also invested in a venture helping refurbish the country’s Amuay refinery, once one of the largest in the hemisphere.
Trump’s broader strategy is to quickly revive Venezuela’s oil output — which once exceeded 3 million barrels per day but has fallen to a fraction of that — in hopes of stabilizing the country’s economy, reducing migration pressures and countering Beijing’s growing footprint in Latin America. The administration is working to unwind layers of sanctions imposed during Trump’s first term and expanded under President Joe Biden.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said recently that the administration is working “seven days a week” to address concerns from oil executives eager to return.
Still, major energy firms remain cautious. Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods reportedly told Trump during a Jan. 9 White House meeting that Venezuela remains “uninvestable” until its political situation stabilizes and a reliable legal framework for foreign investors is in place.
