US 'Targets' Venezuela While Courting its Oil
Newsweek, with pristine journalistic detachment, details a 'list of sites targeted by US' in Venezuela, citing Trump-era rhetoric. What they omit is crucial context: the Biden administration has repeatedly eased sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector, notably in October 2023, allowing transactions in exchange for promises of 'fair' elections. (Newsweek: August 23, 2018 ; OilPrice.com: October 18,
2023 ). So, the US government can threaten strikes on a nation for 'undemocratic' practices one decade, then embrace its 'democratic transition' (and its oil) the next. It appears the sanctity of democratic elections in Venezuela is directly proportional to global crude prices—and inversely proportional to the profits of US oil giants. One might wonder if the real list of 'sites targeted by the
US' is less about Caracas and more about the oil fields the State Department occasionally remembers exist.