Francisco Rodríguez

reversing what he himself did.

He was the one that said the US is not going to buy Venezuelan oil and is going to get all of our allies not to buy Venezuelan oil.

Now he is changing that and that generates significant upside for the Venezuelan economy.

And Trump is also doing something else, which is actually quite remarkable.

I mean, as a Venezuelan, I don't like having the U.S.

president run the Venezuelan oil industry.

But on the other hand, it's not every day that you get the U.S.

to do what countries have a hard time.

A country like Venezuela would have a very hard time now convincing investors to invest in Venezuela.

All of this is economically positive, even though it's being done

through the exertion of a control that violates the sovereignty of the country in very clear ways.

Where do I see the problems?

I see the problems in the near term, in the short term.

And I see the problems in the belief by the US that they can actually run the Venezuelan economy.

Because the reality is that President Trump

and his cabinet have no idea how to run the Venezuelan economy.

And my fear is that in the time that it takes for the Trump administration to actually understand why they can't do what they claim that they're going to try to do, you could have a full-fledged economic crisis in Venezuela.

Venezuelan stocks of food and of basic items are running dangerously low.

If the government doesn't get some access to funding for imports, it's going to have to impose very strict rationing probably within the course of the next month.

That's also going to lead to hyperinflation.