US Begins the Installation of an “Oil-garchy” in Venezuela

WASHINGTON (01-03) – “American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela,” so said Steven Miller, top advisor to President Trump, on December 17 as reported in the New York Times. Miller went on to say that the nationalization of the oil industry in 1976 was a “…tyrannical expropriation…the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property. These pillaged assets were then used to fund terrorism and flood our streets with killers, mercenaries and drugs.” Miller called for the return of those assets formerly owned by ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron that were expropriated and used to create Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).

If stopping drug trafficking is cited as one pretext for an invasion to end the flooding of our streets with drugs, one must wonder why Trump pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández who was convicted in 2024 of smuggling 400 tons of cocaine into the US.

Lest anyone think otherwise, the illegal attack on Venezuela, a violation of international law, is primarily not about the issue of drug trafficking, gang violence, stolen elections or democracy for the Venezuelan people. Instead, it is one simply in which corporate oil interests reign supreme and continue to be integral in determining the direction of American foreign policy in the Middle East and now gaining a more expansive “Manifest destiny” of “our oil” being under other sovereign nation’s land.

The invasion and kidnapping of President Nicholás Maduro by the US military comes as no surprise to those paying attention as the relationship between the two nations has continued to devolve under the Trump regime. On December 17th, when addressing the blockade of Venezuela, Trump telegraphed his intention for regime change to gain access to its oil saying that the blockade would remain “until such time as they return to the United States all of the oil, land, and other assets that they stole from us.” One sure way to begin that process, Washington hopes, is through the removal of Maduro which has the added benefit of reestablishing American corporate control over the valuable oil industry.

Speaking to the nation from Mar-A-Lago on the kidnapping of Maduro on January 3, Trump further confirmed that “We are going to run the country until such time that we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition of peace and liberty and justice for the people of Venezuela.” No plan was laid out on just who would be involved or how Venezuela will be run “properly.”

During a protest outside the White House, one activist voiced concern that Trump’s plan would follow the proposal for Gaza of utilizing technocrats to run the country.

According to Trump, Venezuela’s “…oil business has been a bust for some time. We’re going to have our very large oil companies in the United States fix the badly run oil infrastructure to start making money for the country.” He went on to describe “Operation Absolute Resolve” as an “attack for justice” that would see Venezuela becoming “rich, independent and safe” through oil revenues utilizing America’s “greatest oil companies, the biggest of any in the world.”

Secretary of Defense Peter Hesgeth, following Trump, parroted the party line in referring to “our stolen oil” and noted that the invasion and kidnapping was a demonstration of “peace through strength.” Activists noted that under Hegseth’s leadership the US military would engage in “maximum lethality, not tepid legality.”

Outside the White House, not everyone was buying the party line along with seventy percent of Americans who are opposed to yet another war and protesters in more than seventy cities across the country, calling for No War on Venezuela. This was counter to Trump’s call for further military action in the country if that should become necessary as he forges ahead to install an “Oil-garchy.”

The White House protest in the aftermath of the Trump press conference saw activists saying, “Trump Must Go Now” and for people to get in the streets in resisting his regime. They were also clearly cognizant that Mexico and Cuba remain in the crosshairs for further scrutiny by Trump.

According to activists in demanding an end to these “illegal acts,” they summed up the Trump regime’s performance of “evil acts” thus far as “murdering fishermen, stealing tankers filled with oil, invading Venezuela and kidnapping the countries head of state.” Saying that a full military invasion of Venezuela would be undertaken by the young people from “working class” American families who would be sent by Trump to die for oil and not “the children of oil executives or those of CEOs from Lockheed Martin.”

Adam from the Palestinian Youth Movement reflected that the Trump administration is using the same old playbook of lies and tactics by “creating regime change to ‘Bring in democracy’ resulting instead in the decline of world order as a result…that won’t stop with Venezuela.” He ended by calling on all people of consciousness all around the world, saying, “We have a duty to raise our voices and fight back!”

Several protesters carried signs referencing the still very much alive ongoing controversy over the release of the Epstein files taking a back seat to yet another diversion. One speaker noted a primary difference between Maduro and Trump by saying that Maduro was “not on the Epstein List.”

Several speakers warned about turning over Venezuela’s oil and mineral resources to a puppet government under US corporate control in furtherance of capitalistic hegemony in Latin America. This while demanding a return of both President Maduro and his wife First Lady Sylvia Flores to Venezuela, an end to the war and military violence, along with a withdrawl of all military assets and buildup in the Caribbean for intervention purposes in the region by SOUTHCOM. Added to this was a call for all US unilateral sanctions anywhere in the world to end, noting that an estimated half a million people die every year due to their imposition.

Report and photos by Phil Pasquini

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