Trump says US helping Venezuela to make 'more money'

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Venezuela could see an economic turnaround in the coming months, arguing that new cooperation with the US and major energy companies would sharply boost the country’s oil revenues.

"Venezuela has been an amazing place for so many years, but then they went bad with their policies. Twenty years ago, it was a great country, and now it's got problems, but we're helping them," Trump said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

"They'll be making more money that they've made it a long time, Venezuela is going to do fantastically well ... Venezuela is going to make more money in the next six months than they've made in the last 20 years. Every major oil company is coming in with us. It's amazing," he added.

US military carried out an operation ordered by Trump that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on Jan. 3. They face drug charges in New York, while the country's then vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, is serving as acting president and is said to be cooperating with the US.