US Claims Venezuelan Oil, Forgets History of Coups
When Stephen Miller suggests Venezuelan oil 'belongs' to the US because America 'created the oil industry' there, as Al Jazeera reports, it sounds like typical, jingoistic exceptionalism. What the mainstream conveniently forgets is the long, documented history of US corporate and governmental hands in Latin American resource extraction, often achieved through economic coercion or funding regime
change. From the 1900s through the Cold War, US companies like Standard Oil (cited in Miller's original interview) exploited these resources, frequently aligning with repressive regimes to secure favorable terms, not 'creating' an industry for Venezuela's benefit. This isn't about 'creation'; it's about historical control, veiled as benevolent development. One might wonder if Miller’s memory loss
extends to the 2002 US-backed coup attempt against Hugo Chávez, a leader whose primary offense was nationalizing Venezuela’s oil. How many times must a nation be 'liberated' from its own resources before the pattern becomes clear?