Venezuela. It’s Not About Oil!

Venezuela… It’s not really about oil. Yes, I’m fully aware of what Trump recently said… 

And anyone with an ounce of brain agrees: It sure as hell ain’t about drugs! Never was. Only dimwits have ever bought into the exploitative and bogus “narco-terrorist” label and angle. Since Trump pardoned the Honduran ex-President drug felon, Juan Orlando Hernández, only the hopelessly moronically dimwitted—the kind who still argue that there were WMDs in Iraq (the explosive type, not fentanyl), it’s just that Western allied forces simply never found them—only they still believe that drugs have anything to do with the arms build up in the Caribbean. 

So, if you’re a red-scared righty, you’re now surely thinking: Right, drugs are an issue—every boat leaving Venezuela should be blasted out of the water—but the DMS&UY dude is right: it’s mostly because Venezuela’s President, Nicolás Maduro, is a loony dictatorial Commie who won’t let Venezuela’s oil run freely, meaning, it’s really about fighting evil. A regime change is warranted!

Sigh.

While the common “oil” view offered by most totally misses out on what’s really happening, betraying either not having read, or not having the wherewithal to understand, November’s National Security Strategy released by the White House, the latter showcases a deep ignorance, both in general and in regard to Venezuela's troubled history and economy, deep inequality, and of its political affairs since, and in the years leading up to, Hugo Chávez. 

A Brief Overview

Under Chávez’ socialist policies, living conditions were greatly improved. Sadly, however, although a good man with seemingly good intentions, Chávez was a bit of a financial boob who made a series of bad decisions, their negative effects compounded by having stayed the course that put all the country’s eggs in one basket, so to speak, relying solely on oil to drive Venezuela’s economy and failing to develop other areas.

His socialist policies in combination with, per one Western myth, his nationalization of the oil industry, which actually occurred in the 70s, long before Chávez was in charge, have nothing to do with Venezuela’s current woes, per se, though these triggered the usual foreign-affairs-meddling, regime-change-aiming dickheadery from Washington, including propaganda campaigns, the funding and backing of opposition groups, attempted coups, and the usual bullying tactics, especially in the form of unwarranted sanctions, which, precisely as they were designed to do given the country’s poor financial leadership, crushed Venezuela’s already crippled oil-driven economy. Now, Trump’s recent ‘blockade’—more accurately, his targeted embargo—is nothing more than a cruel chokehold applied as a form of final death blow on the country, for who cares if Venezuelans go hungry, because… freedom and Democracy? Fentanyl?

Bush Jr., Obama, and Trump (first term, too) all took steps to destabilize or weaken Venezuela’s government and obstruct its economy, which every Venezuelan government facilitated as, suffering from the Dutch Disease (acutely so at times since the 1930s)—the strength of its currency having boomed thanks to high oil prices, at the cost of all other sectors—the fall of global oil prices resulted in a national down slope, the country having no other sector to rely on to push it through the slumps. The last, as Nicolás Maduro took over following Chávez’ death, brought on a painfully deep downward one that Venezuela still hasn’t recovered from. Unfortunately, more bad decisions from the Maduro government have made it near impossible to swiftly and smoothly pull the country out of its current hole. And, of course, the U.S. is making sure that that doesn’t happen. 

Nevertheless, this is one of those rare cases where U.S. imperialism is at play, but only in terms of taking advantage of, and worsening, a bad situation rather than to create it. And, no! A right-wing, capitalism-fetishizing government would not have avoided the underlying causes of Venezuela’s troubled path, as its history demonstrates; such a government would have simply facilitated U.S. exploitation of the country’s resources, stimulating deeper corruption and driving inequality further apart.

Chávez, despite having inherited a corruption-laden system, actually fought to eradicate bad actors and, sure, he decided that the country’s oil wealth should be used to fund health care, education, and other social programs aimed at helping the poor, and, as a result, the literacy rate was greatly improved, access to health services increased, and the wealth gap shrunk, but, despite its clear socialist leanings, Venezuela does not fit the “communist” label. At all. Calling him “evil” merely establishes how well you bought into U.S.’ propaganda campaigns.

What earns him and his government that label, from Washington’s point of view, is Chávez’ efforts to reverse the neoliberalist endeavours that the U.S. had, to some degree, imposed on the country, formalizing a course out of the 1976 plan which sought to keep the country’s oil money inside its borders rather than seeing it flow north to U.S. corporations. But, well, since any policies designed to help the poor and working class always get twisted into sick, perverse Commie dealings from the perspective of any true Capitalist…

So, the country may have qualified as one of the richest in the world, a few times, over many decades, but, always suffering from high poverty rates and a dizzying inequality gap, being plagued by corruption and western exploitation, this claim simply validates the belief that “GDP” is a totally bogus, bank-serving metric.

Now, about Maduro… 

It certainly is hard to argue against the “dictator” label, ditto the “corrupt” one, but Western propaganda does paint a far darker picture that glosses over any relevant details concerning Venezuela’s long-running internal turmoils and structural issues. But, yes, he’s definitely not in the same league as Chávez in terms of being a ‘force for good’. 

However, what truly brought down the country was Maduro’s boneheadedness, not the purely evil persona that the West tries to sell, for what led to the insanely-high hyperinflationary state that drove living conditions way down, forcing many to flee the country and investors to run away, was stupidity, not wickedness.

As global oil prices fell, driving down Venezuela’s currency, Maduro decided to do a very U.S. thing to keep the country afloat, but what his government failed to realise is that, having forced their debt across the world, only the U.S. possesses a magic printing press that lets them print tons of new money with very little direct and immediate consequences. Venezuela learned this the hard way, turning its currency into worthless scraps of paper.

Today, the reason Venezuela’s oil is no longer flowing freely is due to its financial woes, as the country no longer has the expertise and the capital to exploit its heavy crude reserves fully, and not due to the idiotic “communist” reasons given by moronic ideologues. 

I’m skipping over much, as my goal is simply to establish that those who try to place all the blame for Venezuela’s current state on either “evil socialism” and/or “dictatorship”, or “U.S. imperialism” are full of crap. The causes go far back, the country’s course from its birth to today was complex, its ‘good times’ were always precarious and far from good for the whole country, external bad actors are as much to blame as bad, internal ones, and “stupidity” shouldn’t always be written off as “evil”. 

If Venezuela was really a peaceful nation, they wouldn’t have built their country on U.S. oil reserves.

Anyone with any brains quickly took in the figures and understood just how little drugs actually flow through, and from, Venezuela into the U.S., thus linking oil to the real cause of Washington’s aggression toward Caracas. 

And when Trump finally “admitted” he wanted to regain control of the oil that Venezuela had stolen from the U.S., too many were too quick to jump on that to say, “See, see, I was right,” hence, still failing to see what this is really about, and that oil is just a means to an end, not the cause. 

Yes! I’m saying that Trump’s recent “stolen oil” claim—albeit a badly skewed view, there is a slight truth to it, as some contracts weren’t fully honored through Venezuela’s nationalization efforts—is just one more amongst the many excuses he’s offered so far. But this one, because it fits people’s usual narrative, is suddenly seen as Trump “speaking truth”??? 

I’m truly amazed to see just how incompetent and lazy most of the media ‘pros’ really are, while those who are willing propagandists have long stopped to surprise me…

Anyone with a clear grasp of geopolitics and power struggles sees that “Stolen oil” is just another justification, no doubt offered because it became real hard to keep the focus on bogus drugs when one is seizing cargo ships and appropriating their oil. However, this too, is just that, a justification, not the real motivation.

Oil is a part of it, so is a regime change. But these are subgoals, not the aim.

Things to keep in mind:   

1. Maduro offered Trump free access to Venezuela’s resources. The country desperately needs foreign companies to invest in oil production as well as to extract it. They no longer have the capital or manpower to do so at volumes that would help Venezuela’s economy.

2. The type of oil that Venezuela possesses is cost-prohibitive. It would be far cheaper to invest in the state-owned PDVSA and simply buy its oil, as the U.S. already does, than to invade/take over the country.

3. Running an oil operation in an unstable country in which the population wants you out is extremely dangerous and cost-prohibitive given the inevitable losses and additional security costs, hence why the heads of all major U.S. oil companies answered with a “hard no” when asked by Trump which of these were interested in Venezuela’s oil.

4. The U.S. is currently a net oil exporter.

That said, if it were really about oil, the U.S. would take a different course and stop there. But, clearly, that’s not its plan, as, aggressively back to its old dickhead ways and tricks, Chile and Honduras were just recently easily converted into pro-U.S. states, and Columbia, whose elections are in May, is next (Trump already announced it), ditto Brazil, then any left-leaning, anti-U.S.-imperialist Latin American nation, etc., with much of Africa also being on the menu. 

Venezuela, because of its leftist government and foreign relationships, is the all-important lynchpin that warrants aggressive military action, as the NED-backed, USAID-funded, country-selling-out, symbolic-and-strategic Nobel Peace Prize winning Maria Corina Machado hasn’t been able to accomplish the easy take over of the country that Washington had hoped for and invested in.

So, if not about oil, what is it really about?

It’s about an empire trying to preserve its Empire status. It’s about desperation. It’s about the USD retaining its status as the global currency, and, so, it's also about petrodollars, countering BRICS, disrupting competing development efforts, displacing competing markets, near-shoring manufacturing, and decoupling, hence, it’s all about U.S. hegemony, all of those more so than “oil”. 

In short: It’s about China.

November’s National Security Strategy spells it out, albeit obliquely, but, if examined in combination with—from the people who created Project 2025—The Heritage Foundation’s March 28, 2023 document, “Winning the New Cold War: A Plan for Countering China”, one would be hard pressed to argue with what I’m saying: Venezuela, it’s not really about oil!

Venezuela is a key piece! Yes, because of its oil, but also because of its gold and minerals; because it’s vying hard to be a BRICS member (its entry was blocked last year by Brazil, based on the allegations surrounding its last elections, but, given its significance, I wouldn’t be surprised if that gets overlooked in the next round); because it has solid ties with China and Russia; because it’s a great ally and friend of evil communist Cuba, which is also an ally to stubbornly-socialist, anti-U.S. imperialism Nicaragua; and, also, because the U.S. can no longer rely on friendly Saudi Arabia like it once did, as the nation is increasingly selling its oil in currencies other than the petrodollar, while also seeking entry into BRICS.

Convert Venezuela into a U.S.-serving ‘free market’ whilst controlling their oil reserves, and…

And Latin America as a whole matters because: In the last decade alone, China has invested far more in Latin America than the U.S. through all sorts of development projects, and it also imports and exports much more from these countries than the U.S., having developed far more mutually beneficial and productive relationships with Latin American countries than the U.S. has ever been able to do through its all-controlling, exploitative, dickheaded imperial attitude. 

So, by taking over all of Latin America, the Trump Troops instantly limit and hurt China while giving themselves a viable road toward decoupling fully from China.

And, as such, the U.S.’s move toward Venezuela is a frighteningly dangerous one. It sets the world on a path that could easily usher in a third world war. 

Trump and his neocon cronies are merely continuing Biden and the Dems’ plan, but through an entirely different course, now having to deal with a far different reality, as those in Washington who’d done their all to instigate a partial proxy war with Russia, forcing Europe into their scheme to cruelly exploit Ukraine in order to weaken Russia, force a regime change, and set in motion a similar “decolonization” plan that allowed them to shamelessly rape the former Yugoslavia, thus ensuring the U.S. its global primacy through an unbeatable edge over China, now have to accept the slap in the face that is the outcome of that failed ploy. Though not officially announced as such, it’s clear that Russia has already won that war, on every level, and it isn’t only stronger today than it was before the Ukraine conflict, its military is battle tested and ready, and the whole attempt solidified its relationship with China, as well as with much of the global south, thus ushering in an undeniable multipolar world order.

The Trump administration acknowledges this new reality, and, so, drops the 'rules-based' hypocritical veneer of old and adopts a new, ruthless and uncompromising stance wherein other nations, essentially, either serve U.S. interests or are enemy states.

Because, the Trump administration also realises that, per this new reality, the U.S. has already lost its war to China, unless it were to take desperate, callous steps to force a new world order.

And, so, as stated in the National Security Strategy, as if doing so wilfully:

“As the United States rejects the ill-fated concept of global domination for itself, [it] must prevent the global, and in some cases even regional, domination of others.”

Yet, whilst trying to appear reasonable:

“The United States cannot allow any nation to become so dominant that it could threaten [U.S.] interests. We will work with allies and partners to maintain global and regional balances of power to prevent the emergence of dominant adversaries.”

But don’t be fooled, global hegemony is still the U.S.’s top priority! Therefore, this new stance is:

“To ensure that America remains the world’s strongest, richest, most powerful, and most successful country for decades to come…”

As such, the new strategy revives the Monroe Doctrine while the “Trump Corollary” revamps it into a new version of the Wolfowitz Doctrine, whereby the U.S. must do all it can to “maintain its status as the world's sole superpower.”

By the way: If/when Dems regain power, I highly doubt they'll change course.

While Trump’s introduction is hilariously megalomaniacal, the strategy document drips with supremacist obsession; it’s an upsetting and delusionally-raw read that places a huge emphasis on military spending and might, and on capitalism.

Accordingly, despite what others have said, it should be clear that the U.S. isn’t retreating to focus on the western hemisphere—it stills sees itself as the hegemon—it’s simply halting its costly attempt to “export” its self-serving brand of democracy all over the world, preferring instead to cost-effectively fully control and exploit its own ‘backyard’ while expecting the rest of the world to readily fall in line, and bow to U.S. supremacy. 

On the plus side? The strategy does claim a turn towards a “[p]redisposition to [n]on-[i]nterventionism”, but…

“For a country whose interests are as numerous and diverse as ours, rigid adherence to non-interventionism is not possible. Yet this predisposition should set a high bar for what constitutes a justified intervention.”

In other words: The U.S. will no longer police the world, but if U.S. interests are either at risk or can be heightened, then, you can still expect the usual dickheadery.

In this manner, the whole document advances stances meant to give Washington the appearance of being a freedom-loving, peace-aimed, and tolerant entity while clearly countering these with brash “but” caveats that gives it the power to do whatever it wants, or feels it needs to do, in order to secure its primacy over the world.

In its own hemisphere, other ideologies will be respected, but… Other national aims, ideals and values will be respected, but… other market structures will be respected, but… the U.S. comes first, and Washington will not hesitate to take swift action to ensure that these things aren’t in friction with U.S. aims. In other hemispheres? All those things will now be respected, too—dictators, communists, and liberals will all be treated as equals—so long as a U.S.-benefiting partnership can be built and capable nations are willing to share the burden, i.e. the cost and manpower, to militarily protect U.S. economic interests and supply lines. Otherwise, all should be ready to face harsh economic consequences, for, across the globe, all ‘friendly’ nations are now expected to remove barriers to U.S. exports and bend to U.S. trade demands, per Washington’s skewed definition of deficit-free, balanced trade, and anti-competitive practices.

Broadly, in this world, Latin America is to be subjugated to Washington’s will, existing to serve the U.S.’s resource and manufacturing needs; Europe, no longer truly relevant, is now a tool, not a partner; Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and India primarily serve a military purpose, for which they’re now expected to cover much of the cost; all prominent and middle-income nations better rethink their relationship with China, and so forth… And, yes, in this world, climate change barely qualifies as an afterthought and is best left unmentioned, if a true friend of the Trump regime. 

And, for United Staters? Well, if you hadn’t deciphered as much based on daily domestic events, it’s now official policy: Unabashedly embrace (white Christian) nationalism, capitalism, and Trump-approved U.S. values, or risk being branded a domestic terrorist. With no ifs and buts!

So much more to say—I could easily write 100,000 words breaking down the Strategy document—and there’s plenty I can provide to make my case, but I’ll stop here (for now?), having felt a strong need to (finally break my silence to) write this simply to steer media folks (my biggest audience, for some reason) toward a more comprehensive view whilst not wanting to go into too great details… That said, I’ll repeat: Thinking that Venezuela is really about oil, you’re simply not seeing the big picture, and thoroughly incompetent if claiming to be any kind of info source re geopolitics!

While too many are focusing on meaningless X drama, the world is about to change, radically. And not in a peaceful way. Obviously?

Sources:

National Security Strategy: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf

Winning the New Cold War: A Plan for Countering China: https://www.heritage.org/china/report/winning-the-new-cold-war-plan-countering-china

.