A pumpjack with the colors of the Venezuelan flag is seen on a street in Caracas on January 20, 2026. Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez said on January 20, 2025, that her country has received $300 million from a United States sale of Venezuelan crude and she will use it to prop up her country’s battered currency, the bolivar.
Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty
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Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty
Dollars are trickling back into Venezuela, they’re the proceeds from the oil seized and by the U.S. That is helping to stabilize runaway prices in Venezuela—at least on paper. But for ordinary shoppers in Caracas, market prices remain dizzying, and families still struggle to make ends meet.