Acting President Delcy Rodríguez presiding over Cabinet Council No. 758 at Miraflores Palace. Photo: Venezuela's Presidential Press Office.
At the second Cabinet Council of 2026, Venezuela’s government reaffirmed its push to move forward with two new sovereign oil funds aimed at supporting social programs, infrastructure, and public services.
This Wednesday, Cabinet Council No. 758 was held at Miraflores Palace. The council was chaired by the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez. The meeting brought together the ministerial cabinet and vice presidents to address priority issues for the country’s economic development and to ensure peace for the Venezuelan people.
This was the second Cabinet Council held in 2026 following the events of January 3—the previous one took place on January 5—and sought to establish new strategies to confront current challenges and integrate newly appointed authorities.
During the meeting, Rodríguez reiterated the government’s commitment to the two new sovereign oil funds recently announced. The first, the Fund for Development and Social Protection, aims to improve workers’ incomes and benefit productive and commercial sectors.
The second, the Infrastructure and Services Fund, is designed to underpin economic and social development through investment in basic services.
Rodríguez also referred to gas exports: “We said it, we announced that we would export the first molecule of gas, and we are fulfilling that promise. We are delivering for President Maduro and for our people.”
“That is the path,” she added. “We have achieved it through our own sacrifice. Because the gas being exported was produced by PDVSA through its own efforts, just as it reached production levels of 1.2 million barrels per day—levels not seen since 2015.
She also addressed gasoline production: “As I informed the country yesterday, all the gasoline consumed in 2025 was produced domestically by PDVSA [Venezuela’s publicly owned petroleum company]. And that must continue to be the path. That is the best example.”
“It is not about PDVSA using foreign currency to import gasoline. That is not what we want. What we want is for those foreign-currency earnings to go toward Venezuela’s social and economic development, through the creation of the sovereign funds I announced for the country,” she said.
As the acting president explained on January 15, when she announced the sovereign funds during the presentation of the 2025 Annual Report to the National Assembly, the measure seeks to ensure that hydrocarbon revenues are transformed directly into benefits for the population, establishing a financing mechanism that prioritizes the country’s most urgent needs amid economic pressure.
On that occasion, she ordered the creation of a technological platform to oversee the use of these resources and ensure transparency in their distribution.
According to Rodríguez, this step is essential to consolidate economic sovereignty and shield the country from external aggression.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/CB/SL
Cameron Baillie is an award-winning journalist, editor, and researcher. He won and was shortlisted for awards across Britain and Ireland. He is Editor-in-Chief of New Sociological Perspectives graduate journal and Commissioning Editor at The Student Intifada newsletter. He spent the first half of 2025 living, working, and writing in Ecuador. He does news translation and proofreading work with The Orinoco Tribune.
