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March 29, 2021 Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has proposed to pay for coronavirus vaccines with oil, as large financial resources abroad have been blocked by unilateral US sanctions.
"Venezuela has the oil ships and it has the customers who would buy our oil," Maduro said in a speech on state television.
"We - he added - are ready and prepared to carry out this oil exchange for vaccines, but we will not beg anyone".
Venezuela has received vaccine doses from allies Russia and China.
The government and the opposition were in talks with the Pan American Health Organization (OPS) about Venezuela's access to vaccines through COVAX, but the government said last week that it will not accept the AstraZeneca vaccine, deployed by COVAX in Latin America. .
If this request receives the green light, he explained, "we could guarantee 100% vaccines for our population, and also the payment of the 2,400,000 doses of vaccine that the Covax mechanism of the World Health Organization (WHO ).
For years, significant financial and gold resources have been blocked in the United States and Europe, while the OPEC nation's crude oil exports have plummeted to the lowest levels in decades since Washington sanctioned state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela in 2019. cutting Venezuelan exports to the United States and dissuading many other customers from buying Venezuelan oil with the threat of sanctions.