Alwaght- The US President Donald Trump since the beginning of his military campaign in Venezuela and abduction of its President Nicholas Maduro made it clear that the main aim was to seize control of the oil of this South American nation. Now after eight months, Washington claims it has realized its wish to dominate the Venezuelan oil.
Trump said Saturday that the US had struck the largest oil deal in world history with Venezuela, asserting that his administration had secured majority American ownership of more than 65 billion barrels of proven reserves, at no cost to US taxpayers.
“On my orders, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, working closely with Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s interim president, and in partnership with the private sector, have guaranteed this landmark agreement,” he said.
The deal, he claimed, would more than double US oil reserves, dramatically boost domestic supply, and drive down gasoline prices for Americans over the long term, while also helping steer Venezuela toward what he called “extraordinary success and massive prosperity.”
Rubio echoed the president's announcement, calling the accord “a huge win for the people of both the United States and Venezuela.” For Venezuela, he said, it would unlock nearly $100 billion in private investment, support thousands of high-wage jobs, and kick-start the reconstruction of the country's shattered economy.
Venezuela sits on roughly 300 billion barrels of crude, the world's largest proven reserves. But crippling US sanctions and years of underinvestment have left that vast wealth largely untapped. Now, Trump is moving to seize control of those resources, effectively turning Venezuelan oil into an American asset.
Covering up defeats with Venezuelan oil
The timing of Trump's big Venezuela oil reveal says less about a diplomatic breakthrough and more about the cascade of failures, domestic and foreign, piling up on his watch. The White House, desperate to justify its record, has never needed a tangible win more than it does right now.
In recent months, US economic malaise, and particularly voter anger over fuel prices, has become a full-blown political headache for Trump. The failure to force Iran into military submission, combined with the administration's inability to tame energy markets, has only tightened the squeeze. Trump fears that by November's midterms, this toxic mix could cost Republicans dearly.
The polling bears that out. Trump's approval has cratered to its lowest point yet, with negative ratings in 47 states, a glaring warning sign with elections looming. That is why, with just two months to go, he is rushing to brand the "Venezuela oil card" as a major accomplishment, hoping to soften public anger and shield his party from mounting political and economic headwinds.
But the Venezuela gambit also lays bare a broader reality: on nearly every major foreign policy front, Trump's record remains conspicuously blank.
Take Ukraine for example. Trump promised to end the war in 24 hours, yet a year and a half into his return to the White House, the fighting has only intensified. Far from winding down, the conflict has raised fears of a wider conflagration, even a direct NATO-Russia clash. Just last week, Trump dispatched his CIA director to Moscow to impress upon Kremlin officials the perils of escalation with NATO.
Then there is the trade war with China, a centerpiece of Trump's strategy to rein in Beijing's rising power. But the results have not matched the rhetoric. Despite his boasts of a decisive victory, China remains the US's biggest economic rival, and the price spikes triggered by his import tariffs have yet to revert to pre-war levels.
Trump made a splash when he unveiled his so-called "Board of Peace" for Gaza, but the body has yet to produce a single tangible result. Israeli officials, for their part, are not taking the paper entity seriously and have flatly stated they have no intention of leaving Gaza. The message from Tel Aviv could not be clearer: the White House's grand designs are collapsing on the ground.
Beyond that, the continued confrontation with Iran is exacting a heavy toll on the US. Daily news reports point to mounting strain on American forces in the region, dwindling weapons stockpiles and damage to strategic assets.
Yet the Trump administration is falling back on the same old playbook of maximum pressure. Once again, it is trying to force Tehran to its knees. But many analysts and media outlets are skeptical that so-called "Economic D-Day" sanctions will yield different results this time around. Past experience suggests they would not.
Meanwhile, even some of US closest allies are losing faith in Washington's ability to guarantee their security. The recent flurry of Arab state maneuvers represented by security cooperation pacts and regional coalitions explicitly built without US participation, speaks volumes about the Trump administration's failure to deliver tangible and durable foreign-policy wins.
Into that vacuum steps Venezuela. The Venezuelan oil gambit has become Trump's singular talking point, his last refuge for projecting success. With no real achievements to point to, he is milking it for all it is worth, hoping to manufacture a veneer of accomplishment and mute the criticism that keeps mounting from all sides.
Profit of oil contracts in pockets of Trump's friends
The nature of this oil deal suggests that just contrary to Trump and his cabinet officials' claims that describe it a historic one serving American people's interests and can lead to lower fuel prices, past experience and Trump's mercantile approach show that this agreement is more about a propaganda show as elections draw closer and less about an economic gain.
It remain a critical question whether this deal will help lower fuel prices in the short run. Economists suggest that Venezuelan economic infrastructures after years of exhaustion and lack of investment require costly rebuilding and it takes years to restore their full-capacity production. So, even if this deal is a success for the US, its influence on fuel prices will not be instant and depends on the true oil output increase and the global oil markets conditions.
The deal's architecture tells a story very different from the one Trump is selling. A hefty slice of the economic upside is destined for corporate heavyweights with ties to the president, Chevron, Halliburton, Exxon Mobil, all of which are already circling for expanded operations in Venezuelan oil fields.
According to sources who spoke with Reuters, a leasing model is on the table that could throw those oil fields open to competitive bids from US producers. That raises an uncomfortable question: will any production gains actually translate into lower prices at the pump for everyday Americans? Or will the lion's share of the profits simply pad the bottom lines of oil giants and their investors?
Then there's the money trail, or rather, the lack of one. Billions of dollars in Venezuelan oil revenue are now moving through financial channels that remain astonishingly opaque. The administration has set up special-purpose structures to seize control of the cash flow, but it has yet to release any clear, public accounting of where those funds are going.
US-based research groups have raised doubts. Despite billions shifting hands, public oversight is minimal, and it is anyone's guess which accounts and entities are ultimately pocketing the proceeds. Adding to the fog: the administration reportedly routed its first $500 million oil transaction, a deal it had itself facilitated, through a separate account in Qatar. That move has only deepened suspicions about how future deals will be structured and monitored.
When all is said and done, the likeliest winners here are private companies and Trump's business allies. For the American consumer, the takeaway appears to be the same as ever: hunker down, absorb the economic pain, and wait, perhaps for years, until global markets finally stabilize.
Colonial deal to plunder Venezuela energy wealth
Imposing a deal that will tighten the US control over Venezuelan national wealth and particularly Trump's tone and wording about the deal echo the colonial and imperialist days of European powers' presence in Latin America, something that will not go without consequences.
Such an approach will gradually draw discontentment and fury of the Venezuelan people. People of this country ask why their enormous oil wealth should be controlled by the US with its main interests going to the foreign companies and groups close to power structure. If the Venezuelan government fails to give a persuasive explanation about the real benefits of this deal, its claims about it being profitable to the public will be further questioned.
Under such conditions, protests are highly likely to erupt against the US policies in their country and the puppet government of Rodriguez.
If there is one lesson from Latin America's long, turbulent history, it is foreign intervention, especially when it is wrapped around a country's natural resources and national wealth, has a knack for igniting nationalist and independence-driven backlash. The US-Venezuela oil deal, despite the US expectations, can stand as a catalyst to reignite anti-imperialist discourse in Venezuela and even pave the way for rise of a new wave of Bolivarian uprisings in Venezuela in particular and other Latin American nations in general.
