{"id":204405,"date":"2026-03-04T20:47:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T20:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/204405\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T20:47:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T20:47:13","slug":"us-interior-secretary-is-in-venezuela-to-discuss-critical-minerals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/204405\/","title":{"rendered":"US interior secretary is in Venezuela to discuss critical minerals"},"content":{"rendered":"

By REGINA GARCIA CANO<\/p>\n

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) \u2014 U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum on Wednesday met in Venezuela<\/a> with acting President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> in the latest sign of the Trump administration\u2019s intent to exercise control over the South American country\u2019s natural resources.<\/p>\n

Burgum, who leads President Donald Trump\u2019s National Energy Dominance Council, was expected to meet with U.S. and Venezuelan companies and \u201cwork for a legitimate mining sector and safe critical mineral supply chains,\u201d according to a post on X by the U.S. diplomatic mission in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

It characterized the two-day visit as \u201canother vital and historic step\u201d that backs the administration\u2019s phased plan to turn Venezuela around.<\/p>\n

Burgum is the latest U.S. official to travel to Caracas to meet with Rodr\u00edguez, who was sworn in following the capture by U.S. forces<\/a> of then-President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro two months ago. His trip follows a February visit by Energy Secretary Chris Wright<\/a>, which was focused on the country\u2019s oil potential.<\/p>\n

Laura Dogu, the U.S. top diplomat in Venezuela,<\/a> joined Burgum for the meeting with Rodr\u00edguez at the presidential palace.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration last month announced that it wants to create a critical minerals trading bloc<\/a> with its allies and partners to defend against China\u2019s hold<\/a> on the key elements needed<\/a> for everything from fighter jets to smartphones.<\/p>\n

\"Interior<\/p>\n

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum smiles during a meeting with Venezuela\u2019s acting President Delcy Rodriguez at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos)\n<\/p>\n

\"Venezuela's<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s acting President Delcy Rodriguez, right, and U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum meet at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos)\n<\/p>\n

\"Venezuela's<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s acting President Delcy Rodriguez, right, and U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum arrive for a meeting at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 3<\/p>\n

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum smiles during a meeting with Venezuela\u2019s acting President Delcy Rodriguez at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition to oil, Venezuela is rich in gold, copper, diamonds and other precious mined resources, while unsafe working conditions are common<\/a> in the poorly regulated industry.<\/p>\n

Before his capture, Maduro and his allies claimed U.S. hostility was motivated by lust for Venezuela\u2019s rich oil and mineral resources.<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/latin-america<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By REGINA GARCIA CANO CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) \u2014 U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum on Wednesday met…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[63375,5873,74,76,75,94631,94630,94629],"class_list":["post-204405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-delcy-rodriguez","tag-doug-burgum","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-us-venezuela","tag-venezuela-minerals","tag-venezuela-oil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}