LatinNews Daily - 23 February 2026

*Venezuela’s President Delcy Rodríguez has met with Colombia’s Energy and Mining Minister Edwin Palma in Caracas. According to a social media post from Rodríguez, the talks were held on 20 February to “advance the energy agenda of both countries”. She said that they “analysed new opportunities for cooperation, to benefit our peoples and regional development”. However, Palma later said that Colombia’s state oil company Ecopetrol is currently unable to import Venezuelan crude as it does not have a licence from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac), which has exempted several international companies from US sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector. Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said on social media yesterday that his government is not planning to import oil from Venezuela as “it isn’t needed”. However, he did raise the possibility of some of Venezuela’s lighter crude being refined in Barrancabermeja, the centre of the Colombian oil industry in Santander department.