Alejandro Betancourt: The Man Who Gave Venezuela’s Oil to Washington.

Behind every deal, there is a fixer, and in late August of 2026, Venezuela's Alejandro Betancourt placed himself in the pantheon of the great fixers of history. Age 46, as of the time of writing, Betancourt still isn't a household name across most of the world.

He's the chairman and CEO of a firm called Derwick Associates, the director of an oil company, and weirdly enough, also the president of a sunglasses company in Spain, because why not?

But anybody who does know Alejandro Betancourt's name today probably knows him as the man who just handed 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan crude oil over to the United States of America.

To some, Betancourt is a fantastically smooth operator, a billionaire businessman who's well on his way to becoming Venezuela's shadow ruler. others, he's a malignant force across Venezuela and the wider world, or as one activist described him to the Financial Times, quote, He's a POS that comes along only once per generation. Holy shit.

But when Betancourt struck his deal with the USA, he made himself into the sort of man who his enemies will have to work very hard to bring down, while those who wish to be his allies work to figure out how to best remain in his good graces.

Overnight, Betancourt has gone from being one of the more important members of the Venezuelan elite to one of, if not the most important person in the country. Son of the Chosen.

To understand Alejandro Betancourt, we first got to understand his place in Venezuelan society. Not quite 20 years ago, when Hugo Chavez declared the start of his so-called Bolivarian revolution in 1999, Betancourt was part of a wealthy family within the Venezuelan elite.

Of course, if you know anything about Chavez and the wealth-distributing social movement that he promised to the people of his nation, then you might expect that Venezuela's wealthy elite were headed into a few hard years.

But while it's true that the really wealthy members of the pre-Chavez traditional elite had a bad time watching their businesses and assets be seized by the new government, Betancourt's family were on the other side of that equation.

Rather than leave his country without a moneyed elite, Chavez essentially cleared the way for the formation of a new oligarchy. Business people and the relatively wealthy who could lean on connections in the political and military spheres to gain favor with the government.

Although industry was ultimately state-run, it was, in practice, more of a gray area, with businesses and families still working as intermediaries, meaning that they were in a perfect position to absorb much of the wealth moving through the Venezuelan economy.

Together, they formed a new sect of the national elite called the Boli bourgeoisie, otherwise known as the Bolochicos. And Betancourt was part of a rising generation of Bolochicos that made the most of their unique opportunity.

Educated in a Caracas school known for being a favorite destination for Bolochico families, Betancourt went on to study economics and business in the United States at Suffolk University in Boston. From there, he got his start in the energy sector, working his way up through oil companies and international trading firms over the following years.

That meant he was in prime position to capitalize when, in 2013, Hugo Chavez died at the age of 58.

After Chavez, of course, came Nicolas Maduro, a bus driver turned union leader who had gone on to work as Chavez's legislative president, his foreign minister, and then his vice president. Maduro was never the ideologue that Chavez was, and nor was he anywhere near as powerful when it came to his ability to exercise direct authority over the national elite.

Instead, when Maduro took over, the Bolochicos, Betancourt included, were able to complete their transition from new money success stories to a proper national oligarchy.

By then, Betancourt was already in charge of Derwick Associates, an organization that made him very rich in the late Chavez years when he was awarded no-bid contracts to build power plants after Venezuela's hydroelectric system was ruined by drought.

Derwick Associates had little in the way of construction experience at that time, but it didn't matter, with the equivalent of roughly 2 billion US dollars funneled into the company's accounts. we should be very clear here, those power plants? Not so great.

According to voluminous data collected after the fact, they operated far below their intended capacity when they were functioning at all. But by the time Chavez passed away, Betancourt was already leaping and bounding from one energy enterprise to another.

By 2012, he was working with Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA, to take over oil field operations in the country's west, gathering the oil production capacity that he would convert in 2024 into a massive energy enterprise of his own.

Once Chavez was gone, Betancourt could step up his game even further. And he did, working as a major shareholder to start a bank serving Francophone Africa and leading a unit of international energy investors called the Ahara Group.

Over the following decade, Betancourt would continue to develop his reputation, perhaps unintentionally, as a very shady money man with deep ties to all sorts of corrupt enterprise.

As a recent Axios explainer put it, quote, Betancourt's life story has an oil-like boom-and-bust aura, replete with billion-dollar deals, international intrigue, a long-standing money laundering probe, and even a Spanish castle raided by authorities, end quote.

He built a lavish life for himself in Spain across the 2010s, funneling his wealth into various startups and companies beyond the oil industry, and gathering a net worth that's estimated today to be around US$2.6 billion. during the same period, he's been hit with scandal after scandal.

A watchdog investigation in 2017, alleging that it inflated energy prices during peak Venezuelan drought season, and a report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, the OCCRP, in 2021, that really amplified rumors that Betancourt was deeply involved with corruption and money laundering projects for Maduro's elite.

He's been investigated extensively in the United States, as well as in Spain and Switzerland, where, because of competing extradition requests from both countries, Betancourt ended up in a rather odd situation at his residences in the United Kingdom. an almost eight-month period over the last year, right up until he returned to Venezuela in June of 2026,

Betancourt was forced to travel back and forth between his mansions in Chelsea and Oxfordshire by helicopter, because if he even attempted a drive, between the two properties, he was at risk of arrest. that's who Alejandro Betancourt was prior to his return to Venezuela this year, shortly after the nation was ravaged by back-to-back earthquakes. was a

Leading member of the Maduro-era Venezuelan elite, embroiled in all sorts of shady businesses for both his own benefit and the benefit of his allies in the oligarchy.

On paper, he was the kind guy you'd have expected the US to be talking about when in 2025 and early 2026, the Trump administration raised the specter of the Cartel de los Soles, Cartel of the Sons, a corruption and narco-trafficking network that brings together the Venezuelan armed forces, government insiders, private elites, and criminal syndicates into a

Vast enterprise. clear, the Cartel of the Sons is a concept that long predates Washington's operation to capture Maduro this year.

And although it's not a cartel in the traditional sense, it's an informal corruption and trafficking network that has had a substantial impact over time.

Betancourt has never been formally named as a Cartel of the Sons operative, but his alleged role as an international money man for Venezuela's corrupt elites and laundering operations would suggest that it be part of the network, the same network that the US claimed it wanted to disassemble when it launched its operation to capture Maduro in Caracas.

But just like Delce Rodriguez, Maduro's vice president and the current interim president, who was once called a ringleader of the Cartel of the Sons by United States, Betancourt's treatment from Washington changed quickly once Maduro was out of the picture.

Link Prior to Maduro's capture, Betancourt was embroiled in legal proceedings in the United States as well as in Spain and Switzerland.

Miami, although he was never formally charged, he was part of a sprawling federal investigation that continued through the entirety of the first Trump administration.

Prosecutors couldn't prove, at the time, that Betancourt was involved in a money laundering case worth $1.2 billion, and he was very diligent about keeping his money outside of the US banking system. he was thought, at the time, to be deeply involved with the laundering scheme. investigation into Betancourt only closed a few months ago, according to reports

From US insiders, when Todd Blanche, the then deputy attorney general, told Miami prosecutors to end their probe into Betancourt's affairs. then, we now know in hindsight, the plan to make Betancourt part of America's plans for Venezuela was already underway. respects, he was a natural fit for the Trump administration to work with. was deeply enmeshed in the

Venezuelan oligarchy and its energy sector, but he had publicly maintained an anti-Maduro stance for years.

According to a recent report by the Washington Post, Betancourt even helped in past efforts to undermine Maduro, according to US officials and Betancourt allies interviewed for the peace.

That included a 2019 flight to Moscow, in which Betancourt delivered a letter to the Kremlin urging Russia to end its support for Maduro when he faced a particularly stiff challenge from then-opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Sources

close to Betancourt say that he also supplied Guaido financially, although Guaido denies having any connection with him. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained to a Venezuelan expat podcaster a couple of weeks ago, Betancourt ultimately reached a, quote, very, very bad place with Maduro.

Through it all, Betancourt was part of the same corrupt enterprise that Maduro had built, and Betancourt had, quote, grown wealthy off business with Venezuela's corrupt governments, end quote, but he was, at least, plausibly interested in a post-Maduro future for his country.

Among the current U.S. administration, he had, quote, developed a reputation for a golden touch in extracting Venezuela's challengingly thick crude. That's a quality that Washington probably would have regarded as an asset under any circumstances, but especially once the initial buzz from Maduro's capture had started to die down.

When the January operation took place, the U.S. had quite obviously been expecting a massive swell of enthusiasm from U.S. oil companies, but the actual response had been underwhelming as industry leaders pointed out that Venezuela's extraction infrastructure is largely unusable, its oil requires such specialized processing that it's just cheaper to go

Elsewhere.

So, Trump had delivered the world's largest proven oil reserves into the hands of an industry that didn't actually want it. But Betancourt was the man who could move the needle.

The idea to reach out to Betancourt seemed to originate with Mauricio Claver-Corone, a Miami-born lawyer and lobbyist of Cuban descent who previously served as Trump's special envoy for Latin America. Claver-Corone managed to get Betancourt on the phone in March, according to the Washington Post, and offered him a deal.

Betancourt and oil company, the second largest private oil firm in Venezuela, would work directly with the U.S. government to create new production capacity, previously ignored proven reserves, and otherwise get the ball rolling on U.S.-led oil extraction.

The deal wouldn't be a simple blank check to Betancourt. Instead, he would most likely have to give up part of his company and allow the Trump administration to install board members, thus cutting into his long-time independence.

In exchange, Betancourt would get access, financing, and other perks that could turn him into a global player in the energy market.

Betancourt's response, according to the Washington Post, was, all in.

As for Betancourt's motivations, well, one of them is easy enough to deduce. this deal will come money, prestige, and the protection of the U.S. government, which has more than enough clout to get the Spanish and Swiss off of Betancourt's trail. fact, that process was already underway before Betancourt's call with Claver Corone.

American authorities got involved with Betancourt's case in Switzerland just weeks after Maduro was captured.

After retracting their extradition request to the U.K., Swiss officials tested the U.S. on their willingness to protect Betancourt, asking in May that he be detained and extradited. But instead, Betancourt got a multiple-entry U.S. visa and an invite to high-level meetings in the capital.

But according to the Post, Betancourt is also motivated by legacy and the challenge of quote, shaping a new Venezuelan economy.

As for the U.S., well, as one anonymous senior U.S. official told the Post, quote, this is a proven operator. I'm not nominating anyone for sainthood here. What I am telling you is that this is a person that in the past has been helpful to the United States government, end quote.

The Post reports that, according to some sources with access to knowledge around the immediate post-Maduro aftershocks in Venezuela, quote, without his help, it would not have been possible to hold the country together after Maduro's seizure, end quote.

It was Betancourt who allegedly reassured Delcey Rodriguez that the U.S. would work with her as long as she played ball as expected. Betancourt ally told Axios, quote, she thought the U.S. had killed Maduro, that she had been double-crossed, and she was very angry and very scared.

He had to talk her down, playing the good cop, end quote. Betancourt also leveraged his information networks to help the U.S. track down shadow tankers as they tried to evade America's naval blockade of the country. now, Betancourt has emerged at the center of the deal that will deliver Venezuela's oil economy to the United States.

Under the deal, the U.S. Pentagon was granted a significant ownership stake in Betancourt's company, North American Blue Energy Partners.

All told, once the deal goes through, the company will control around 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan crude across 17 oil fields, which were just recently granted to Betancourt's company by Delcey Rodriguez. amount of oil, by the way, is around four times more than the entire crude oil portfolio of ExxonMobil, not just in Latin America, but worldwide.

It's also equivalent to about 20% of all Venezuelan-known and suspected oil reserves, and it would make North American Blue Energy Partners the second largest oil company on Earth by proven reserves. Saudi Aramco holds the number one spot.

Pentagon's 35% stake in the company comes at no cost to the American taxpayer, according to the White House.

In addition to the stake, the U.S. State Department has rights to purchase 20% of all oil output at the cost of production, instead of at market prices, and has the first right of refusal on everything else the company extracts, meaning that until the State Department chooses not to buy it, that output is basically American oil.

The company's board of directors must include a majority of U.S. citizens, Washington can veto board appointments at will, and any issues with the company will be resolved under U.S. law.

For the U.S., the deal is unprecedented. Under Trump, the White House has snapped up ownership stakes in global companies with unusual enthusiasm. But this is a new level, even for him.

According to the White House, the deal will help refill America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, supply the U.S. military, and be diverted for other sensitive uses. As one U.S. energy official explained on a call with journalists, the U.S. does not expect to buy up the 80% of output for which it has first refusal.

Instead, as another anonymous official told CNBC, quote, the first right of refusal is a long-term insurance policy that the U.S. would use when it faces a crisis.

As for Betancourt, it's difficult to put a number on the value this deal delivers to him personally, but in short, it's going to make him a king.

According to his company, the deal is expected to bring almost 100 billion U.S. dollars of investment to the Venezuelan oil sector, with a first-stage objective of ratcheting up production to over a million barrels per day. His position will be very tenuous.

In the US, the deal is legally shaky and could easily be undone by a future administration. just during the next couple of years, before Trump leaves office in 2029, Betancourt stands to enjoy tremendous personal gain.

Marco Rubio has claimed in conversation with the Venezuelan media that the US will institute safeguards to ensure that money from this arrangement isn't used improperly. As for the global reception to the deal, sufficed to say that most outside observers are aware that there's something deeply shady going on.

As one former Venezuelan energy minister, Rafael Ramirez, put it for the New York Times, quote, the United States has wreaked havoc on us. Ramirez went on to call the deal, quoting again, grotesque.

Although in the same article, Betancourt's spokeswoman and his company's general counsel reframed the agreement as putting Betancourt, quote, in a position to revitalize the country's long-dormant economic potential, end quote.

The backlash to the Betancourt deal isn't because there's any doubts, either among Venezuelans or international experts, that he could get it done. Basically, every expert on the situation has acknowledged that Betancourt is highly competent, especially in Venezuela's ruthless, cutthroat environment.

Instead, the problem is in the principle, especially for the United States.

In the words of Elliott Abrams, a former Trump official who wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post on the subject, quoting, Trump has allied the government with the most shadowy and repellent Venezuelan businessman he could find. We knew exactly what Betancourt stood for and kept him far away from the U.S. government. No longer, end quote.

Venezuela expert Thomas Posado explained of the deal for France 24, quote, this clearly shows that predation and access to Venezuela's energy resources are Donald Trump's priority rather than promoting a democratic transition.

Pedro Borelli, a former member of Venezuela's state-owned oil company and a longtime Venezuelan opposition supporter, the Miami Herald that the deal is, quote, extremely dangerous and resembles the Soviet star privatizations of the Yeltsin era, when state assets were transferred supposedly in the name of reform but ended up in the hands of well-connected

Insiders.

That is how you create a new generation of oligarchs overnight, end quote.

Or, quoting oil industry historian Tyler Priest, who spoke to CNBC about the deal, for the American government to get involved with a shady businessman concessionaire in a country that is known for endemic corruption, it just raises all sorts of red flags, end quote.

Nevertheless, Betancourt's deal is done, and until or unless a new U.S. administration comes along to reverse it, the agreement has secured a future for those 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil.