Latin America Rising > US unfreezes some Venezuelan assets; Ecuador raises tariff on Colombian oil by 900%

 

US unblocks Venezuelan assets

– interim president

Washington is reportedly sitting on $30 billion worth of the South American nation’s property

Delcy Rodriguez delives her annual address to the nation at the Federal Legislative Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, January 15, 2026 © Getty Images / Ivan Mc Gregor

The US has unfrozen some of Venezuela’s impounded assets, acting President Delcy Rodriguez has announced. Rodriguez said the money will be spent on hospital equipment and power infrastructure.

Speaking on national television on Tuesday, Rodriguez said she had spoken to US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio with “respect and courtesy,” and that the unblocked funds would be used to purchase hospital equipment from the US “and other countries.”

“We are unblocking Venezuelan resources that belong to the Venezuelan people… and this will allow us to invest significant resources in equipment for hospitals,” she said. Rodriguez added that Venezuela will also purchase “equipment for the electricity sector and equipment for the gas industry” with the funds.

Rodriguez did not say what amount of assets would be released. President Nicolas Maduro claimed in 2022 that around $30 billion worth of Venezuelan assets were frozen abroad. These include oil impounded by the US and around $2 billion worth of gold frozen in the UK.

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Maduro was abducted by US forces earlier this month and charged with narcoterrorism, cocaine trafficking, and firearms offenses. Rodriguez has denounced the kidnapping of Maduro, but has attempted to placate Washington – namely by allowing US companies to run the South American nation’s oil industry.

Venezuela’s oil industry was nationalized in 1976, with American contractors slapped with further restrictions by Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, in 2007. Trump has repeatedly claimed that these moves amounted to Venezuela “stealing” oil infrastructure built by US firms.

Trump has warned that if Rodriguez “doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.” The US president spoke with Rodriguez by phone last week, and announced plans to invite her to the White House.

What's right? Probably spending the majority of unfrozen assets in the USA. 

Rodriguez insisted on Sunday that she had enough of “Washington's orders,” and that Venezuelans alone would “resolve our differences and our internal conflicts.” Asked on Tuesday about Rodriguez’ comments, Trump replied: “I haven't heard that at all. We have a very good relationship.”

Ecuador hikes Colombian crude transport tariff by 900%

By Macarena Hermosilla

   

Colombia's Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism Diana Morales said at a press conference that her government is reviewing which additional Ecuadorian products will be subject to the new tariffs. Photo by Carlos Ortega/EPA

Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Ecuador confirmed a retaliatory 900% increase in the tariff it charges to transport Colombian crude oil through its petroleum infrastructure, raising the cost to $30 per barrel from $3 -- a move that has deepened bilateral tensions in the energy and trade spheres.

The measure was confirmed Monday by Ecuador's Minister of Environment and Energy Ines Manzano, who said the new rate applies to Colombian crude that moves through the Transecuadorian Oil Pipeline System, known by its Spanish acronym SOTE, which is owned by Ecuador. She said the increase took effect Friday.

"The tariff rose from $3 to $30 in reciprocity for Colombia's decision to suspend the sale of electricity," Manzano said in an interview with local radio station Sucesos.

The dispute between the two countries began after President Daniel Noboa's government announced it would impose a 30% tariff on Colombian products. Ecuador justified the move by arguing that Colombia has not done enough to combat drug trafficking along the shared border and framed it as a trade protection measure.

Bogota responded with retaliatory steps, including the suspension of electricity supplies to Ecuador, which relies on imports to cover part of its power demand.

The SOTE is one of Ecuador's two main oil pipelines and is operated by state-owned Petroecuador. The system transports crude from southern Colombia to the Ecuadorian port of Esmeraldas, on the Pacific Coast, for export to international markets, according to Colombia's La Republica newspaper.

"Ecuador is providing a service of high strategic value to Ecopetrol," Manzano said.

"This is an area where illicit activities occur and where numerous attacks have been recorded, so transporting the crude through our territory has allowed it to reach international markets," she added.

According to figures cited by Ecuadorian outlet Primicias, about 10,300 barrels per day of Colombian oil were transported through the SOTE in November, including from Ecopetrol and private companies.

Ecuador also operates the Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline, known as OCP, which transports oil for private companies. Because it operates under separate commercial contracts, its tariff was not modified.

Colombia relies on Ecuadorian infrastructure, which provides one of the fastest and safest routes to export oil from fields in the country's south. Using Ecuador's pipelines reduces transit times, overland transport costs and risks associated with longer domestic routes.

For more than a decade, Ecuador has been a key logistics partner for Colombia's oil industry, providing direct access to international markets through the Pacific.

In response to Ecuador's decision to raise the tariff on crude oil transportation, the Colombian government decided Tuesday to impose a 30% tariff on a range of products from Ecuador that were not included in the first round of measures, according to Caracol Radio.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism Diana Morales said at a press conference that the government is reviewing which additional Ecuadorian products will be subject to the new tariffs.

Morales added that Colombia, "as a state," has been compelled to "create conditions of balance in the trade relationship with Ecuador."

"Today, we are considering another decree that will include other types of products from Ecuador, also with the imposition of 30% tariffs, so that we can seek that trade balance," she said.

According to the report, the Colombian government is seeking a solution to the dispute through dialogue and was promoting a meeting between Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Ecuador's Noboa at the CAF forum Wednesday in Panama.

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Switzerland Follows Denmark’s Lead to Seize Assets From Refugees to Pay for Upkeep

And the tide turns as European countries take steps to discourage migrants from coming

© Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters

Switzerland says it will introduce legislation which will force refugees to hand over cash and valuables to the authorities to 

help pay for their upkeep. The move by the Swiss follows

a similar plan implemented by Denmark

Refugees arriving in the Alpine nation will have to turn over any assets they possess which are worth more than 1,000 Swiss francs ($997).

"If you have property worth more than 1,000 Swiss francs when you arrive at a reception center you are required to give up these financial assets in return for a receipt,” an information sheet for refugees states, as cited by Reuters.

However, the move has been met with condemnation by human rights groups, who have called it “undignified.” Stefan Frey from refugee aid group Schweizerische Fluechtlingshilfe said that the practice “has to change.”

The state migration service SEM justified the move to the Swiss broadcaster SRF, saying the new law will make sure that asylum seekers and refugees will contribute to their upkeep, where possible.

"If someone leaves voluntarily within seven months this person can get the money back and take it with them. Otherwise the money covers costs they generate," an SEM spokeswoman told SRF.

The policy also indicates that refugees who gain the right to stay and work in Switzerland will have to pay 10 percent of their wages for a period of up to 10 years, so that they manage to pay off 15,000 francs in costs, the report states.

Denmark
On Tuesday, Danish lawmakers passed a bill that would allow the authorities to seize cash and jewelry belonging to refugees, in return for living in asylum centers.

“We want to limit the inflow,” Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, whose right-wing Venstre party is behind the plan, told reporters on Tuesday. He went on to call it "the most misunderstood bill in Denmark's history."

Proposed in late 2015, the bill would allow Danish authorities to strip migrants of cash and any individual items whose combined value exceeds 10,000 kroner (€1,340, $1,450). Lawmakers raised the limit to $1,450 since its last consideration in mid-December, bringing it in line with an existing law which requires Danes to sell all of their valuables in order to apply for unemployment benefits.

However, the refugee-stripping bill has been amended to exempt engagement rings, family portraits, and badges of honor.

“The government, the Social Democrats, the Danish People’s Party, the Liberal Alliance and the Conservative People’s Party have agreed to amend the bill concerning valuables,” a government statement said, according to The Local Denmark news portal.

Of course this will put pressure on Germany, Sweden and other EU states to do the same, otherwise the inflow of migrants to their countries will only increase.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has condemned Denmark for tightening its immigration rules, saying it “regrets” what it called the Danes’ “deeply concerning response” to the global refugee problem.

“The proposals presented by the government are evidently aimed at conveying a message to make it ‘less attractive’ to seek asylum in Denmark, and is a deeply concerning response to humanitarian needs,” the UN refugee agency said in a January 6 statement.

“The signal Denmark’s introduction of restrictions sends to other countries in the world […] is worrisome and could fuel fear, xenophobia and similar restrictions that would reduce – rather than expand – the asylum space globally and put refugees in need at life-threatening risks,” the UNHCR’s report read.