Popular wisdom says, "To whom God gave it, Saint Peter blesses it." But in the case of Venezuela, one could add: Washington envies it.
How can this South American nation return something that has always belonged to it, that nature gave it? That was the question many asked themselves after the US president's statements threatening the Bolivarian government if it did not return the oil and assets that, in his words, it "stole."
In this regard, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, member of the Political Bureau and Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that UN experts condemned the U.S. aggression against Venezuela. In this regard, he stated that "the U.S. government should listen to the international community, although its double standards and disrespect for multilateralism, diplomacy, and dialogue among equals are well known."
What the occupant of the Oval Office clearly did not take into account when uttering such aberrations was that it was the US government, with the help of the Venezuelan far right, that plundered that country.
Such is the case of Citgo Petroleum Corporation, which was the largest subsidiary of PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.) abroad, and whose handover – "on a silver platter" to the vulture fund Elliot Investment Management – took place at the end of last November, as part of the auction of properties in Juan Guaidó's concession, during his interim presidency in 2019, of control of Venezuelan assets to the United States.
Then, the northern nation orchestrated a cyberattack on PDVSA, with the aim of halting its operations, which it failed to do. Later, a naval blockade was ordered to limit the entry and exit of "sanctioned oil tankers," and two Venezuelan oil tankers were captured in the Caribbean Sea, which in one case led to the forced disappearance of its crew.
This is happening in parallel with the escalation of direct military aggression that the White House has been waging since last August in a supposed fight against drug trafficking.
However, its fallacious "pacifist" discourse is history. Trump himself confessed to the press that he would keep the seized oil. "We're going to keep it. Maybe we'll sell it, maybe we'll use it in strategic reserves. We're also keeping the ships," he said. His words included the usual threats to President Nicolás Maduro: "He can do whatever he wants (...) if he wants to do something, if he wants to play tough, it will be the last time he can play tough."
This is undoubtedly a policy of forcing concessions under pressure, which is part of the new National Security Strategy, based on an updated Monroe Doctrine.
In addition to these intimidation tactics—unprecedented in the region—some of the most cruel of the more than 1,000 unilateral coercive measures with which Venezuela is closing out 2025 focus on economic damage.
In this context, the Venezuelan Parliament announced on Tuesday the unanimous approval of the Law to Guarantee Freedom of Navigation and Trade against Piracy, Blockades, and Other Illegal International Acts.
This provision establishes, in Article 13, that "any person who promotes, instigates, solicits, invokes, favors, facilitates, supports, finances, or participates in acts of piracy, blockade, or other illegal international acts against legal entities that conduct commercial operations with the Republic and its entities by foreign states, powers, corporations, or individuals shall be punished with imprisonment for 15 to 20 years and, as an additional penalty, the imposition of fines."
In this regard, the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, stated: "The people of Venezuela, with calmness, decency, and dignity, will respond to all aggressions and will prevail. Have no doubt about that."
NEOCOLONIAL LOOTING. THE SAGA
The oil industry, as we know, is Venezuela's main economic activity. Affecting it would cause unrest in all sectors of the population's life and would serve to demonstrate the supposed inability of the Bolivarian State to lead the land of Bolívar and Chávez, which, it has been said, is one of the ways in which they intend to bring about "regime change" in that country.
However, the move does not seem to be working out very well for the modern pirates. Despite the neocolonial plundering that is being repeated in the region, and outside of any international legal framework, Venezuela has recorded 18 consecutive months of economic growth, in which hydrocarbons play a strategic role.
According to PDVSA President Héctor Obregón, the state-owned company has reached the target of 1,200,000 barrels per day set for this stage. It is on track to increase production by 2026, within the framework of the Productive Independence Plan.
The reality of the situation speaks for itself. The economic and military coercion that is currently seeking to destroy the Bolivarian Revolution is part of a multifaceted aggression that, far from combating drug trafficking, seeks to use this pretext to achieve greater objectives.
Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. The United States consumes around 20.6 million barrels per day. The math is not difficult to do. Expropriation seems to be attached to the empire's foreign policy as a sine qua non condition. Its survival depends on it.
