Florida Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar deleted a social media post criticizing President Donald Trump's oil agreement with Venezuela, only to repost a revised statement praising the deal approximately an hour later.
On Saturday, Salazar took to X, formerly Twitter, to state that any oil deal with Venezuela's interim government had an expiration date tied to Trump's presidency. She also expressed skepticism about the Venezuelan interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, suggesting the regime had a history of betraying American investments.
"Any oil “deal” with Venezuela’s interim regime has an expiration date: the day President Trump leaves the White House," Salazar wrote in her initial post.
She later removed both English and Spanish versions of the post. Roughly an hour after deleting it, Salazar returned to X with a new message. "The U.S.-Venezuela oil deal is a great deal for the United States and the Venezuelan people," she wrote. "For years, China took advantage of Venezuela’s weakness to buy its oil at deep discounts. Now America is stepping in, and American investment and influence offer Venezuela a path toward prosperity, stability, and security."
Despite her revised stance, Salazar again criticized Rodríguez, stating, "Delcy is the wrong person to make this deal with."
Salazar's revised posts also suggested the agreement could endure beyond Trump's term, but only if Venezuela held free elections. "We want this deal to last 100 years," she stated. "Only an administration backed by strong democratic institutions and the rule of law can guarantee that. This will only be possible with free elections."
Trump announced the agreement Friday, stating that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Rodríguez had negotiated terms that would give private U.S. companies access to what he described as "65 BILLION BARRELS" of proven Venezuelan oil reserves "at no cost to the American Taxpayer."
The Venezuelan government indicated that companies would be allowed to operate in 17 oil fields, anticipating approximately $100 billion in investment for the nation's oil industry and over $209 billion in tax revenue.
Salazar did not respond to requests for comment from The Post regarding her social media activity.