Why the US Really Went After Maduro

President Trump claims he invaded and captured Venezuelan President Maduro for two reasons. While there may be some truth to those claims, the real reason is something he is not telling us, at least not directly. As Trump claims human rights violations and narco-trafficking, the real reason is oil.

According to Reuters, the administration is planning to meet oil executives to discuss increasing Venezuelan production. The meetings are crucial to Trump’s hopes of getting top oil companies back into the South American nation after Venezuela’s government, nearly two decades ago, took control of US-led energy operations there. According to my research, that – “takeover” - took place fifty years ago.

In 1976, Venezuela took control of the assets of ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron, using them to create the state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela. It’s important to note here, that according to a 1962 United Nations resolution, "Permanent sovereignty over natural resources," and the "inalienable right of all States freely to dispose of their natural wealth and resources in accordance with their national interests," are recognized. Hence, the oil belongs to Venezuela; it’s the assets in question.

The American companies didn’t just own wells, they also built towns replete with hospitals, schools and baseball diamonds, creating “oil camps” that functioned as English-speaking enclaves for American workers and their families. US citizens in Venezuela formed the largest postwar American expatriate community in the world. Venezuela also had one of the world’s highest standards of living.

However, unlike nationalizations elsewhere at the time, the process was a negotiated transition with little to no political or military fallout... although the oil companies do claim they were never fully compensated.

Trump said hours after Maduro’s capture that he expects the biggest US oil companies to spend billions of dollars to increase Venezuela’s oil production, which has dropped to about one-third of its peak over the past two decades because of underinvestment and… that word I hate, sanctions. He even suggested US taxpayers could reimburse energy companies for rebuilding Venezuelan infrastructure for extracting and shipping oil. “A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us or through revenue.”

So basically. American oil companies get bought out of Venezuela, we then decide we didn’t like the deal, we impose sanctions which help in the destruction of the Venezuelan economy, we capture their president, and then expect Americans to pay for increasing Venezuelan oil production to what it was before we imposed sanctions. Typical D.C. stupidity.

In politics, always follow the money. There’s little money to be made in human rights violations. There’s little money “saving lives” due to drug-trafficking. There is, however, a lot of money to be made in Big Oil. There’s also the power grab of geopolitical interference. Therein lies the reality of the attack on Venezuela sovereignty, and the capture of Maduro.

Source used: The Guardian