“ Game of Thrones '' of Trump's team on the lady of Venezuela, Chevron

It took barely 24 hours this week at the Trump administration to execute its latest overthrow in Venezuela, with the fate of a huge business of Chevron Corp. Suspended in the balance while the differences in the White House in camera broke out in the open air.

The prices of the country's bonds were gyradable while a senior official announced Tuesday that the company's oil project in the country will obtain a long -awaited derogation from the sanctions when the current expire next week, to be contradicted Wednesday by a tweet at the end of the evening of the Secretary of State.

“There is aGame of ThronesParticipate there, “said Jorge Rodríguez, the chief negotiator of Venezuela, earlier this month when approaching the deadline for extension.

The cervical boost was the last sign of the internal fight of the administration war on the pressure to be put on the regime of President Nicolás Maduro. The defenders of the tightening of pressure – led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio – were opposed to those who sought to relieve the limits in order to win Venezuela's cooperation on other questions such as migration.

“The recent Zigzags policy in Venezuela has left the investors, and frankly everyone, with the spinning head,” said Geoff Ramsey, a principal researcher at the Atlantic Council in Washington. “The question is whether the administration can articulate these two approaches in a single” more coherent cop, a routine “.

President Donald Trump has given mixed signals. He gave the green light for the now expiring exemption, but he also took on the publicly the hard position of Rubio, weighing with an article on social networks earlier this year.

Earlier this week, it seemed that the other camp, personified by the special envoy Richard Grenell, had shot the trend with an agreement to return an American Air Force veteran held by Venezuela. In return, he promised in Caracas an extension of 60 days from the derogation of sanctions for the Chevron project.

“President Trump has authorized this extension if we could get progress, if we could strengthen confidence,” Grenell told Steve Bannon Warship podcast. “We were able to do it today. Therefore, this extension will be granted. “

The holders of Venezuelan bonds and those who argue for a lifting of the sanctions praised the news. But the members of the Florida Congress Delegation – where the Venezuela problem is a major electoral – were not satisfied. And they had an additional lever effect because the White House ended up needing all the republican votes that he could pass the big Trump tax package in the House of Representatives.

Representative Maria Elvira Salazar, who represents Miami, clearly said in a brief interview on Wednesday that Trump would not get his vote if the renunciation was extended. “The president gave his word,” she said.

The Rubio tweet intervened a few hours before the House vote, which Trump presented as “the most important legislation that will ever be signed in the history of our country!”

The administration denied that there was a contradiction.

“There is no confusion,” said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Thursday when he questioned the statements. “Many people on each question can have a lot of opinions. But I clearly think of whom we are turning, it is the people who have the power to have the impact and who make the decision and, of course, it is also in the direction of President Trump. ”

Grenell refused to comment. The National Security Council of the White House did not respond to a request for comments.

Tensions go beyond Venezuela policy. Grenell also asked for the Secretary of State who went to Rubio. He went to Caracas to meet Maduro in January just before Rubio made his first trip to Latin America as a secretary. Grenell was also the point of the administration's efforts to bring Venezuela to accept the deportees, a major priority of the White House.

Trump also exploited Grenell for other jobs, from the management of California forest fires to the management of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.

And while Grenell as a special interview flew to antigua to finalize the agreement with the hostage, it belonged to Rubio, which now also filled as a national security advisor, to issue the documents that would have been necessary to extend the derogation of the sanctions. So far, this has not happened.

Rubio's political roots are in a community of Latin immigrants in southern Florida known for its criticism of socialist governments like those of Venezuela and its Cuba ally.

The debate on the debate is also Trump Ally and the right -wing activist Laura Loomer, who took the side of Grenell with messages on X supporting the extension on the license of Chevron. Loomer and Grenell argued that Venezuela represents a crucial partner to slow migration to the United States and that Chevron's permission to operate will result in the end of the country under Chinese control.

“Why would you like China to take control of American oil assets and destroys 15,000 American energy jobs?” Loomer wrote on X in response to Rubio. “I'm going to wait to see what President Trump says about it. He is in charge. “

In the middle of the back and forth, Chevron did not respond to requests for comments. He removed the reserves of the project of his books several years ago.

“The logical common ground here is that the White House continues its commitments with Maduro while simultaneously trying to put pressure for reforms that can open democratic space,” said Ramsey of the Atlantic Council. “Venezuela's policy should not only be sticks or carrots, you need the two on the table.”

This story was initially presented on Fortune.com