“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before – until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us.” — President Donald Trump, December 17, 2025
Paul Craig Roberts:
“Now we know what President Trump’s orchestrated Venezuelan crisis is all about. Trump is demanding that the Venezuelan government reverse its nationalization of its own assets that dates back to 1976 and turn the oil industry over to Washington. Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in 1976. The state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. was created to control oil resources previously in the hands of Exxon, Shell, and Mobil. A second phase of nationalization under Hugo Chávez in 2007 brought the remaining Orinoco Oil Belt projects under state control. When Trump says Venezuela stole US oil he means Venezuela nationalized the resources that the United States stole from Venezuela. Trump’s actions against Venezuela amount to piracy and an attempt to loot and plunder the country and its resources. It is yet another example of Washington operating entirely outside the realm of law.