Trump calls for Venezuela to return US oil assets, defends blockade
President Donald Trump asserted on Wednesday that Venezuela must return assets taken from US oil companies years prior, reiterating his rationale for the blockade against oil tankers navigating to or from the South American nation that are subject to American sanctions. Trump referenced the lost US investments in Venezuela when questioned about his latest strategy in a prolonged pressure campaign against leader Nicols Maduro. He implied that his administration’s actions to challenge the leaders in Caracas are at least partially driven by conflicts over oil investments, in addition to allegations of drug trafficking. Some sanctioned tankers are already diverting away from Venezuela. “We’re not going to be letting anybody going through who shouldn’t be going through,” Trump told reporters of his call for a blockade. “Do you recall when they seized all of our energy rights? They took all of our oil not that long ago. And we want it back. They took it; they illegally took it.”
US oil companies held a significant position in Venezuela’s petroleum industry until the nation’s leaders decided to nationalize the sector, initially in the 1970s and once more in the 21st century under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez. Venezuela’s offered compensation was considered inadequate, leading an international arbitration panel in 2014 to mandate that the nation’s socialist government pay USD 1.6 billion to ExxonMobil. Venezuela’s oil has historically been a central element in its relations with the US, yet the Trump administration has shifted its focus to Maduro’s connections with drug traffickers, alleging that his administration has played a role in the transportation of hazardous drugs into the US. In a social media post on Tuesday night, Trump stated that Venezuela was utilizing oil to finance drug trafficking and other criminal activities.
Last week, US forces captured an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, coinciding with a significant military buildup that features the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier. The Trump administration has conducted a series of strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, resulting in the deaths of at least 95 individuals. This has raised concerns among lawmakers and legal experts regarding the legal justification for these attacks. Trump has indicated that he is contemplating strikes on land. Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, compared Venezuela’s decision to nationalize its oil industry to a heist. “American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela,” Miller wrote on social media Wednesday. The expropriation, characterized by its tyrannical nature, stands as 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.”
Venezuela initiated the nationalisation of its oil industry in the 1970s, a movement that intensified under Chávez, who took control of hundreds of private enterprises and foreign-owned assets, including oil projects operated by ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. This culminated in the arbitration panel’s order issued in 2014. A case can be presented that Venezuela is indebted to Exxon for this amount. “I don’t think it’s ever been paid,” economist Philip Verleger said. Trump criticized his predecessors for failing to adopt a more stringent approach toward Venezuela regarding the asset seizures. “They took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn’t watching,” Trump said Wednesday. “But they are not going to do that again. We want it back. They took our oil rights; we had a significant amount of oil there. As you are aware, they removed our companies, and we seek their return.” Chevron has received a waiver from the US government allowing it to maintain oil production in Venezuela, and the Texas-based oil giant asserts that its operations remain uninterrupted.
On Wednesday, the list of foreign terrorist organizations remained unchanged following Trump’s statement that the Venezuelan Regime has been designated as one. Officials at various national security agencies were advised not to interpret Trump’s remarks about the designation literally, and they should be regarded as a figure of speech, according to a U.S. official involved in the discussions. An official, speaking on condition of anonymity to detail internal interagency communications, emphasized that the blockade announced by Trump pertains solely to vessels that have already been sanctioned. In 2020, Trump’s Justice Department indicted Maduro on narcoterrorism charges, and last month the administration designated the Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organisation. On Wednesday, Maduro reached out to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss the ongoing tensions, while Venezuela’s foreign minister urged the UN Security Council to denounce the tanker seizure. Retired US Vice Admiral Robert Murrett noted that capturing sanctioned tankers carries lower risk than direct military confrontation, adding that US policy continues to support a peaceful, democratic transition in Venezuela.
