Trump says Venezuelans are “very happy” as oil companies pour money into the country

U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that Venezuela is “very happy” with its current situation because the country is receiving significant revenues as major oil companies expand their operations there.

“The people of Venezuela are very happy because they were living through a difficult situation and now the oil companies are coming in, a lot of money is being made. Venezuela is making a tremendous amount of money, and so are we,” Trump said in an interview.

He said “all the big companies” are doing business in Venezuela and argued that the situation is already intensifying. “The people of Venezuela are very, very happy,” he added, describing the country as “a very sad country” in the past.

Trump also said thousands of jobs are being created as major oil companies return to the Venezuelan market. He specifically mentioned ExxonMobil and Chevron, saying Chevron is already operating there “on a large scale” and that companies are moving quickly.

“We’re taking millions of barrels of oil out of Venezuela and bringing it to Houston to refine it. It’s a tremendous amount of oil,” Trump said.