Trump Pitches $100B Venezuela Oil Deal, Forgetting Who Blocked It Last Time
Donald Trump recently announced that major oil companies are ready to invest $100 billion in Venezuela's oil industry, foreshadowing a White House meeting. The Independent reports this as a forward-looking proposal, conveniently sidestepping the inconvenient truth that it was US-led sanctions, significantly ramped up under Trump's own administration, that crippled Venezuela's oil sector and
economy in the first place. (One might wonder if 'investment' is simply code for 're-nationalization of resources previously nationalized by the Venezuelans themselves'). This isn't a new play from the US foreign policy playbook. For generations, Washington has toggled between 'regime change' and 'strategic partnership' with oil-rich nations depending on who gets to control the spigot. The US
Treasury Department's extensive sanctions against Venezuela, which specifically targeted its oil industry (for example, Executive Order 13850 in 2018), effectively blocked such investments for years. Now, with an election looming and gas prices always a concern, suddenly, Venezuela's oil—which sits atop the world's largest proven reserves—is back on the table. It appears what was once a
'dictatorship' threatening democracy is now just a 'business opportunity' waiting for the right (read: US-approved) hand to sign the dotted line. How many coups, invasions, and economic strangulations does it take for American corporations to get a good deal?