Trump Calls for Blockade, Forgets US Owns Caribbean Oil
The former President's latest pronouncement, framing Venezuelan oil as a national security threat, echoes a familiar refrain. One might recall the 2002 attempted coup against Hugo Chávez, backed by the US, or the more recent crippling sanctions under both Trump and Biden administrations that starved the Venezuelan economy—designed, of course, to 'restore democracy,' not oil contracts. The
inconvenient truth the media often glosses over is that US companies, like ExxonMobil, held significant stakes in Venezuelan oil fields before nationalization, a historical context that reframes 'evil dictators' into 'leaders who nationalized resources from foreign corporations.' So, a 'blockade' isn't just about 'sanctioned oil'; it's about reasserting control. When US politicians decry
'authoritarian regimes,' they always seem to omit the part where those regimes are often in resource-rich nations that dared to defy US corporate interests. This isn't escalation; it's a rerun of a very old, very oil-stained movie where the 'good guys' always end up securing cheap energy. How many times must this script play out before the audience catches on?