US Oil Chiefs 'Lukewarm' on Trump's Venezuela Pillage Plan
The story presents this 'caution' as almost virtuous, framing it as companies being hesitant to wade into a politically complex situation. What it conveniently omits, of course, is the long, sordid history of US intervention in Venezuela, meticulously designed to create these 'complex situations' in the first place. Venezuela, sitting on the world's largest proven oil reserves, has been a US
regime-change target for decades, long before Trump floated this '$100 billion plan.' Remember the 2002 coup attempt against Hugo Chávez, tacitly supported by the US? Or the crippling sanctions under multiple administrations, including Trump's, that systematically dismantled Venezuela's oil infrastructure, precisely to make it ripe for 'revival' by foreign capital? These aren't 'business
decisions'; they are the expected outcome of economic warfare, now presented as a juicy investment opportunity. The only 'lukewarm' aspect here is not whether to plunder, but how to best minimize political fallout while maximizing profits from the ruins Washington helped create.