The Geopolitics of Gasoline
Behind the sanitized language of international relations, former President Trump's interest in Venezuela's vast oil reserves highlights a recurring pattern in US foreign policy. The BBC reports on his purported plans to visit Venezuela and facilitate American energy companies' access to its crude, despite their reluctance to invest where political instability, largely fueled by US sanctions, makes
operations difficult. This isn't merely a business proposition; it's a historical echo. For decades, the US has intervened in Latin American nations under various pretexts, from anti-communism in 1954 Guatemala, where the CIA overthrew a democratically elected government for the United Fruit Company, to 'democracy promotion' in other resource-rich states. Venezuela itself has endured over 900
US-imposed sanctions since 2015, measures which ostensibly target the government but demonstrably cripple the Venezuelan economy and its national oil company, PDVSA, which saw production plummet from 2.3 million barrels per day in 2016 to just 700,000 in 2020. The prevailing narrative typically frames such engagements as benevolent attempts to stabilize a failing state. Yet, the persistent US
pressure on Venezuela, coupled with repeated attempts to oust its leadership – like the failed US-backed coup against Hugo Chávez in 2002 – reveals a more transactional interest. When the US designates a nation as an 'authoritarian regime,' as it has Venezuela, it often paves the way for economic leverage or outright intervention, while simultaneously engaging with other autocratic petro-states,