AdvertisementA monument to oil workers stands in a square in Cabimas, a once-thriving oil town in Venezuela. But slumping crude prices, government mismanagement and U.S. sanctions have left Venezuela’s industry a hollowed-out shell of its former, grandiose self. Much of Venezuela’s oil industry is in disrepair, like this broken oil pipeline over Lake Maracaibo. A mural in Maracaibo celebrates Venezuela’s oil industry. He and other former oil workers expressed guarded optimism for Trump’s ambitious revival blueprint.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 15, 2026 15:31 UTC