[ad_1]
For the US oil main, that is about reclaiming its stake in a promote it walked away from in 2007, after the Hugo Chávez authorities known as for a fairer divvying up of income.
The US’ seizure final Wednesday of an Iranian oil tanker carrying Venezuelan oil was definitive affirmation that the US’ warfare of aggression in Venezuela has nothing to do with drug cartels and all the things to do with oil majors.
Venezuela has the biggest confirmed reserves of heavy crude on this planet, with an estimated 303 billion barrels, in addition to the biggest reserves of sunshine crude oil within the Western Hemisphere. But it surely’s not simply that Venezuela is dwelling to the biggest oil reserves on the planet, it’s that these reserves are sitting “proper subsequent door” to the US, as Trump himself mentioned in 2023:
Donald Trump admitted in 2023 that, in his first time period as US president, he tried to overthrow Venezuela’s authorities and pillage its oil:
“We’d have taken [Venezuela] over. We’d have gotten all that oil. It will have been proper subsequent door”.pic.twitter.com/hrygJQQU7B
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) October 11, 2025
President Trump’s obsession with seizing different nations’ oil goes again a methods, to even earlier than he entered politics. Right here he’s explaining in 2011 why the US ought to seize half or extra of Libya’s oil after murdering its chief, Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, and plunging what was arguably the richest nation in Africa (on a per-capita foundation) into complete chaos.
For individuals who imagine the US-backed coup in Venezuela is about serving to the folks, here is Trump in 2011 explaining how regime change ought to be used to steal pure assets.
NOTE: 🇻🇪Venezuela has the most important oil reserves on this planet pic.twitter.com/3lyfd979Jd
— The Resonance (@Partisan_12) December 1, 2025
The cash quote: “you realize the previous days, once you had a warfare, it was ‘to the victor the spoils.’”
As has been patently clear because the very starting, and was simply reaffirmed by Democrat Senator Chris Murphy, Trump’s navy strikes towards boats within the Caribbean and Japanese Pacific are totally devoid of authorized or nationwide safety justifications. But they proceed.
I simply got here out of the briefing with Sec. Rubio and Sec. Hegseth on the navy strikes within the Caribbean and Japanese Pacific. This is what I discovered.
Backside line: there isn’t any authorized or nationwide safety justification for what they’re doing. Not even shut. pic.twitter.com/8gUU0sHKwu
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 16, 2025
In the meantime, Julian Assange has filed a felony grievance towards the Nobel Basis for permitting its peace prize to function an instrument of warfare. The Wikileaks founder alleges that giving the 2025 version award to Maria Corina Machado constitutes misappropriation of funds and facilitation of warfare crimes.
JULIAN ASSANGE FILES CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AGAINST NOBEL FOUNDATION OVER “INSTRUMENT OF WAR” PEACE PRIZE
WikiLeaks Founder Alleges 2025 Award to María Corina Machado Constitutes Misappropriation, Facilitation of Struggle Crimes Beneath Swedish Regulation, Seeks Freeze of 11 million SEK ($1.18… pic.twitter.com/OAH4mmvsph
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) December 17, 2025
But even because the holes in the entire warfare narrative develop bigger, primarily due to Trump’s personal conflicting statements, the warfare drums develop louder.
Now, Trump has mentioned the quietest half out loud: his authorities is imposing a complete siege on Venezuelan oil as a result of the US needs “ITS” oil again from below Venezuela’s soil — the identical oil that the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez dared to take again sovereign management of from overseas corporations in 2005 (extra on that shortly).
Trump’s blockade of all sanctioned tankers carrying Venezuelan oil doesn’t have an effect on Chevron’s every day shipments. From the Wall Road Journal:
President Trump on Tuesday ordered an entire blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela, escalating his administration’s strain marketing campaign towards strongman Nicolás Maduro.
For Chevron, although, it stays enterprise as common. The corporate remains to be sending oil tankers to the U.S. Gulf Coast, its operations unimpeded up to now by rising stress between Trump and Maduro.
As Sony Thăng factors out within the Tweet beneath, Trump’s candid declaration of US possession of Venezuela’s is the “most trustworthy colonial confession of the twenty first century… you might be saying, out loud, what empire has all the time believed in non-public: what lies below Venezuelan oil belongs to Washington.
Donald, you simply wrote probably the most trustworthy colonial confession of the twenty first century.
Once you say Venezuela should “return” its oil, land, and property to the USA, you aren’t speaking about regulation.
You might be speaking about possession.
You might be saying, out loud, what empire has all the time… https://t.co/aYcbOs6fFB pic.twitter.com/TIWsYodyTR
— Sony Thăng (@nxt888) December 17, 2025
Coming Full Circle
There are, in fact, a plethora of different causes for the US’ aggressive strikes towards Venezuela that we’ve mentioned earlier than, together with the nation’s massive deposits of gold, uncommon earth minerals and freshwater; the chance to open up a mid-sized nation’s market to rampant privatisation and liberalisation.
Caracas’ shut ties with Russia, China, Iran and Cuba little doubt play a play, as does its long-standing opposition to Israel’s remedy of Palestine.
There’s additionally, in fact, the small matter of the Epstein scandal, from which the Trump administration must distract its voters. And what higher distraction than a brand new warfare, particularly given the tens, maybe even tons of, of billions of {dollars} of recent enterprise it’ll create for the MIC?
However the primary motive is — and all the time has been — the oil. And we’ve now come full circle, with Trump and members of his interior circle now overtly admitting as a lot.
Observe how the US authorities’s propaganda narrative has modified:
First the Trump admin claimed it was waging warfare on Venezuela due to medication — a blatant lie (the US helps the worst drug traffickers in Latin America).
Now they admit that this is usually because Venezuela… https://t.co/pSoGQi3Ivk
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) December 18, 2025
A becoming depiction of what’s occurring:
— mike luckovich (@mluckovichajc) December 17, 2025
Trump’s declare that the Maduro authorities has stolen US-owned oil, land and different property constitutes a particularly egregious case of projection. It’s, in any case, the US, primarily throughout Trump’s two presidencies, that has been stealing all types of Venezuelan property, from the nation’s gold reserves to the oil tanker seized within the Caribbean final week, to the president’s official aircraft, to Venezuelan oil firm Citgo.
Trump’s phrases are even inflicting blushes amongst members of the Machado opposition, as Max Blumenthal advised Decide Napolitano on Judging Freedom. In any case, how can they promote their regime change story again dwelling when Trump is telling the world {that a} Maduro-free Venezuela will primarily belong to the US — lock, inventory and, most significantly, barrel?
One firm particularly that stands to learn from the US’ newest regime change operation is Exxon Mobil. An current article by the Argentine geopolitical analyst Bruno Sgarzini shines a lightweight on how the corporate helps to fund influential assume tank “specialists” who’re pushing for a regime-change warfare towards Venezuela (machine translated):
“The Brookings Institute and the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research (CSIS) are the 2 main assume tanks we work with and actively take part in,” mentioned Keith McCoy, a lobbyist for Exxon Mobil in 2019. What McCoy didn’t know is that the dialog was being recorded and that the particular person he was chatting with, supposedly a consultant of an power funding firm, was truly a local weather activist. The lobbyist had unwittingly confessed that he relied on the tutorial experiences of each assume tanks to affect congressmen, and the media, towards any anti-fossil gas laws.
The teachers, accountable for presenting their experiences in Congress, and the board of each establishments, in fact, denied any connection to the oil firm. However the information speaks for itself; Exxon Mobil has contributed 12 million {dollars} to the CSIS which have flowed in direction of its program of “Vitality Safety and Local weather Change” and others associated to power initiatives within the “Americas and Africa”, two areas the place the oil firm has deep pursuits.
It additionally contributed, in line with data, $5 million to the development of the institute’s new headquarters. Its government board additionally contains Exxon’s present CEO, Darren W. Woods, who changed the corporate’s former boss, Rex Tillerson, Trump’s former secretary of state throughout his first administration…
The positions of the CSIS are often conveyed by means of experiences whose message is then bolstered with the looks of the authors on mainstream media, corresponding to CNN, Fox Information, NBC and CBS, or opinion columns in newspapers corresponding to The Wall Road Journal, The Washington Put up, and magazines specializing in worldwide points corresponding to Overseas Coverage.
[They also feature prominently] in congressional hearings, which provides these specialists the potential of influencing particular points that profit CSIS donors, corresponding to Exxon Mobil. Brooke Williams, a professor of journalism at Boston College, wrote [in the New York Times]:
“Assume tanks, which place themselves as ‘universities with out college students,’ have energy in authorities coverage debates as a result of they’re seen as researchers impartial of moneyed pursuits. However within the chase for funds, assume tanks are pushing agendas essential to company donors, at instances blurring the road between researchers and lobbyists. And they’re doing so whereas reaping the advantages of their tax-exempt standing, typically with out disclosing their connections to company pursuits.”
In accordance to CSIS, it often has common conferences with representatives of its donors to debate the problems they’re coping with.
A Guerrilla Foyer
The truth that a assume tank like CSIS is serving the pursuits of considered one of its greatest company donors is hardly information to NC readers. Even the New York Instances reported in 2016 on how assume tanks are “amplifying Company America’s affect”. That is, you possibly can argue, their raison d’etre.
What could also be information is that since Trump started deploying a big chunk of the US’ naval fleet to the Caribbean in early September, the CSIS has launched a guerrilla foyer of types in favour of eradicating Chavismo from energy. That this completely aligns with the pursuits of considered one of its fundamental donors, Exxon Mobil, might be no coincidence, writes Sgarzini:
In an article in Overseas Coverage, CSIS’ director for Latin America, Ryan C. Berg, has spoken in favor of “overthrowing Maduro with out troops on the bottom.” He has additionally questioned the anti-war visions of the MAGA world held by journalist Tucker Carlson and former Trump strategist Steve Bannon.
“Distinct from a boots-on-the-ground invasion of Venezuela aimed toward overthrowing Maduro, a regime collapse would entail a extra restricted marketing campaign of U.S. strikes on targets on the coronary heart of the Maduro regime’s state-crime nexus, implicating the nation’s armed forces and its political elites. These strikes would leverage precision-guided munitions and U.S. standoff weapons fired from a protected distance, presumably catalyzing motion internally to pressure Maduro’s exit—all with out placing U.S. personnel in danger as with a “regime change” technique.”
The promotion of this thesis… was bolstered by technical-military experiences by Mark Cancian, a former U.S. colonel who participated within the 2003 invasion of Iraq, who compares the firepower being deployed [in the Caribbean] with different navy campaigns corresponding to NATO’s in Libya and Yugoslavia.
“The forces at present compromised are inadequate for an amphibious touchdown or floor invasion. This could require not less than 50,000 troopers, and warfare strategists would in all probability desire a a lot bigger quantity—maybe 150,000—to realize the overwhelming pressure they need. Nonetheless, the air and naval assets gathered over the previous three months have offered sufficient firepower to the Caribbean to launch air and missile strikes towards Venezuela…”
These experiences, in apply, operate as data weapons to take care of the notion of an “imminent assault” and thereby affect decision-making.
CSIS has been at this a very long time. In the course of the first 12 months of Juan Guaidó’s clown “presidency”, in 2019, it organised a gathering to guage the usage of navy pressure in Venezuela. Visitor audio system included the previous head of Southern Command, Kurt Tidd; Roger Noriega, former US undersecretary for Latin America and one of many architects of the Iran-Contra scandal; and William Brownfield, former US ambassador to Caracas.
In the course of the Biden administration, Berg was a vociferous critic of the oil licenses granted to Chevron, Exxon Mobil’s greatest rival. On Trump’s return in January, Berg co-wrote a report with Juan Ignacio Hernández, Juan Guaido’s former particular prosecutor, titled “Ending Maduro’s Oil Lifeline”. The report argued for the reapplication of sanctions as a device of strain, and the revocation of the present oil licenses that permit Western corporations to companion with PDVSA.
The report’s presentation occasion even featured the participation of María Corina Machado. From 2023 to 2025, the opposition chief has participated in several CSIS occasions moderated by Berg, at which she reiterated her refusal to barter with Maduro and known as for Washington to use more durable measures towards Venezuela.
In the beginning of Trump’s second time period, it was not clear which means his authorities would lean on the query of Venezuela. As readers might recall, Trump even dispatched his particular mission envoy, Richard Grenell, to Caracas to debate with Maduro the return of migrants at present within the US. As a gesture of fine will, Caracas launched half a dozen US residents held in Venezuelan prisons who have been accused of being mercenaries and plotting terrorist assaults on Mexican soil.
As we famous on the time, this was clearly an try by the US to reestablish relations with Venezuela after over a decade of escalating sanctions and a number of failed regime change operations towards the nation:
After Maduro and Grenell closed the deal, the prisoners have been taken to the airport, blindfolded, hooded and handcuffed. No monetary or different concessions have been promised to Maduro, aside from the prospect of bettering relations with the US, Grenell mentioned.
The one reward for Maduro was my presence: the primary senior US official to go to the nation in years, Grenell mentioned.It was a fantastic present for him to obtain a go to from an envoy of President Trump.Whereas these phrases might ring of imperial hubris and vanity, the reality is that Maduro appeared the image of contentment within the assembly. And who may blame him? Only a month [earlier], all of the speak was of one more regime change operation, led this time by Venezuela’s CIA-sponsored “Iron Girl”, Marìa Corrina Machado. Biden had simply given the opposition’s official candidate, Edmundo González, the crimson carpet remedy on the White Home, saying him as “president elect” of Venezuela simply days earlier than Maduro’s inauguration for a 3rd time period.
Richard Grenell’s technique might have sought to supply Venezuela financial respite by extending the sanctions aid enacted by the Biden administration in 2023, since which period Venezuela has been one of many quickest rising economies in Latin America. Nonetheless, all the White Home’s choices because the summer season of 2025 level in the other way.
Clearly, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, his Miami-based backers, neocons like Elliot Abrams and all the opposite belligerents, together with CSIS, have gained the higher hand.
Nonetheless, if Trump does declare warfare towards Venezuela, it might be massively disruptive for US oil corporations working in Venezuela, like Chevron, and the large refineries that course of Venezuela’s heavy crude on the US’ Gulf coast — particularly if, as many have warned, the spiral of violence unleashed in Venezuela turns into intractable.
However this wouldn’t be an issue for Exxon Mobil because it hasn’t had operations in Venezuela since 2007.
Exxon’s Lengthy Historical past in Venezuela
Exxon has a protracted, wealthy historical past in Venezuela courting again over a century. Its predecessor, Customary Oil, was one of many first corporations to probe for oil within the South American nation within the 1910s. Between the Nineteen Thirties and the primary decade of this century, Exxon was a dominant participant in Venezuela by means of its 95% management of the Creole Petroleum Company — a lot in order that the nation grew to become generally known as the “ranchito de los Rockefeller“.
However that each one got here to a halt in 2005, when Hugo Chávez ordered all current “working agreements” with overseas oil corporations to be transformed into joint ventures by which the state oil firm, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), held a compulsory majority stake (over 50% possession and operational management). Exxon refused to signal whereas most different corporations, together with BP, Complete and Chevron, took the deal.
In 2007, Exxon left Venezuela for good and started a protracted court docket battle towards the Chavista authorities on the Worldwide Middle for Settlement of Funding Disputes (CIADI). The US oil big sought compensation of $18 billion, however after a number of appeals the courts sided with Venezuela and in 2014 the oil firm was awarded solely $1.6 billion in damages.
When Trump accuses Venezuela of stealing US oil, he’s presumably referring primarily to Exxon’s oil.
However Exxon’s revenge got here with the the invention of oil off the coast of Essequibo, a sparsely populated 160,000 square-kilometre chunk of land in neighbouring Guyana. The possession of Essequibo has been the topic of an ongoing territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela because the mid-Nineteenth century — a territorial dispute whose preliminary antagonist, readers shall be shocked to be taught, was the British Empire.
Exxon was one of many first corporations to start drilling for oil within the Essequibo’s disputed waters. Because the Washington Put up reported in 2017, it was the “good revenge” for Exxon’s then-CEO Rex Tillerson, whom Donald Trump would later go on to nominate as his secretary of state.
That top-intensity battle is now nearer than ever. But it surely must be packaged and offered to US lawmakers, media, members of the armed forces, and Trump’s war-weary MAGA base. And that’s the place CSIS’ “specialists” are available. And they look like advertising this warfare on behalf of an organization that has a lot to realize from a navy intervention, and which bears the most important grudge towards Venezuela’s Bolivarian motion.
[ad_2]
