A few months ago, he could not even leave his luxury London residences without risking extradition to Switzerland, where Alejandro Betancourt is wanted in connection with an embezzlement and money laundering case.
From now on, this Venezuelan millionaire is on the way to becoming a key man in “the largest oil deal in world history”, to use Donald Trump’s superlative formulation.
Donald Trump’s “viceroy” in Venezuela?
Announced by the American president on Friday September 28, this agreement between Washington and Caracas “appears ambitious in its objectives, but it is very difficult to get a precise idea because there is no official text and everything we know about it is based on declarations and messages on social networks”, underlines Thomas Long, specialist in Latin America at the University of Warwick, who has written on confrontation strategies between the United States and Latin American countries.
Ambitious because it grants the United States the exploitation of “nearly 20% of Venezuela’s proven reserves, or 17 oil fields on which production is supposed to be increased”, specifies Thomas Posado, specialist in Venezuela at the University of Rouen. Donald Trump hopes to get 65 billion barrels from it.
While remaining very vague as to “the concrete methods of implementation, and the reality of future investments”, adds this specialist. Delcy Rodriguez, interim president of Venezuela, simply assured that this agreement should lead to 100 billion dollars of investments in the country.
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Cover image: © France 24
There was still another gray area on Friday: the identity of a mysterious Venezuelan partner with whom Washington would work to exploit these deposits of black gold. And this person is none other than Alejandro Betancourt, the controversial Venezuelan oil tycoon, according to revelations made on Sunday by the main American media.
This 46-year-old businessman who has lived in the United Kingdom for several years is presented as the new intermediary between Washington and the Venezuelan government. The Financial Times even goes so far as to describe him as “Donald Trump’s viceroy in Venezuela” in a long profile.
With Alejandro Betancourt, Donald Trump is betting on “an important player in the Venezuelan oil sector who seems to have the confidence of Delcy Rodriguez,” summarizes Thomas Long. The businessman is in fact at the head of the company North American Blue Energy Partners (Nabep), the second largest private oil producer in Venezuela.
Delcy Rodriguez would have consulted him on several occasions for advice on the best way to restart the Venezuelan economy, several investigations by Spanish-speaking media have claimed.
Arrested twice in the UK
But he is also a very controversial character who drags around a lot of problems. He was arrested twice in the United Kingdom, where he lives. The first time in September 2025 at the request of the Spanish authorities, who accused him of money laundering and tax crimes. Released on bail, he was then arrested a second time two months later following an international arrest warrant issued by Switzerland as part of an investigation into suspected embezzlement of PDVSA, the Venezuelan oil giant.
Although he has often been accused, he has never been formally charged, whether in Venezuela, Switzerland or Spain.
And Washington got Switzerland to let this oil tycoon move freely internationally, says the Washington Post.
The return of this sulphurous businessman to the forefront of the Venezuelan scene hardly delights the opposition, underlines the New York Times. If most concede that Alejandro Betancourt demonstrates real know-how in the oil field, he would also be “a dark m* like there is only one in every generation”, exclaims Thor Halvorssen, a human rights defender of Venezuelan origin interviewed by the Financial Times.
The archetype of the “Bolibourgeois”
In the eyes of Venezuelans, Alejandro Betancourt “embodies the archetype of those we call ‘bolichicos’, or ‘bolibourgeois'”, points out Thomas Posado. This is a whole class of Venezuelan businessmen “whose immense fortune depends entirely on the goodwill and favors of the government, whether at the time of Hugo Chavez or Nicolas Maduro” – under the Bolivarian Republic established by the first, explains Thomas Long.
These “Bolibourgeois” have “obtained extremely lucrative public contracts in total opacity”, specifies this expert. Alejandro Betancourt first built his fortune in the electricity sector. At the beginning of the 2010s, he founded the company Derwick Associates which “without having the slightest experience won at least eleven public contracts worth around $5 billion to build thermoelectric power stations, without there having been any calls for tenders”, underlines the Spanish daily El Pais.
Also readVenezuela: American intervention motivated by the thirst for oil?
He then became interested in Venezuelan oil and then set off to conquer Spain, where he married in 2012. Alejandro Betancourt built a small empire there, investing in luxury real estate as well as in local start-ups, underlines El Pais.
By choosing this “bolichico”, Donald Trump is therefore allying himself with a vestige of Chavismo. “This clearly demonstrates that predation and access to Venezuela’s energy resources are Donald Trump’s priority and not the promotion of the democratic transition,” laments Thomas Posado.
“Megalomaniac fantasy”
It is difficult to know whether Alejandro Betancourt will really allow Donald Trump to quench his thirst for Venezuelan oil. The objective, according to the Financial Times, would be to let the controversial “bolichico” run a sort of “mini-PDVSA”, capable of exploiting the 17 coveted oil fields much more quickly than the enormous public juggernaut.
But this dream of having access to 65 billion barrels of oil “can hardly be described as anything other than the megalomaniacal fantasy of an American president who has no sense of reality”, judges Aslak Orre, Norwegian political scientist and expert on Venezuela at Chr. Michelsen Institute.
For this expert, “even if Venezuela managed to return to its best levels of oil production – which date back to the 1970s – it would take around 50 years to deliver the 65 billion barrels”.
In other words, according to the experts interviewed, Donald Trump’s promise very much resembles an announcement effect to try to convince the American public that the United States, faced with the rise in oil prices linked to the war in Iran, has found a solution. But in the end, this agreement especially risks doing the business of intermediaries like Alejandro Betancourt.
