To be clear tho there's a lot of hypocrisy going around. The US is mad so stopped buying their oil, Venezuela is claiming the USA didnt give them enough money even when they did buy it, Venezuelans are saying the govt didn't give the people enough of the money even tho they're faux communists and all of that should be redistributed.
all of it really rings of like an old timey fable. a group of people find a priceless object, but it brings whomever possesses it nothing but misfortune. Venezuala sits atop the world's largest proven oil reserves, it's the world's largest black gold mine, and yet no one can just drill it, sell it, and make the people of the nation happy.
For decades, U.S. companies controlled Venezuelan oil and profited massively while Venezuela got very little. This is fact. When Venezuela asserted independence under ChĂĄvez and later Maduro, the U.S. used sanctions and trade restrictions (they literally told the rest of the world not to buy from Venezuela - similar to how the US told the world not to buy from Russia) to punish them (or puppet regime them) and protect its control. Historically, this is how the US has taken care of its interests - by using bullying tactics. In this case the US bought Venezuelan oil at contracts that heavily favored themselves. Venezuela often received a fraction of the value while the bulk of profits went abroad.
The same thing is happening in Africa right now where they are kicking off their leash - from France. This is one of the reasons why France is long term fubar - they are getting less of wealth from those they have been stealing it from for decades. So back to Venezuela - decades of economic exploitation. The usual narrative is to bash said government but in this case the Venezuelan government inherited an economy heavily dependent on oil, which was largely controlled by foreign powers. When ChĂĄvez tried to redistribute wealth, the U.S. and other countries applied pressure that limited what could be spent domestically. How messed up is that? So itâs not only âfaux communismâ â itâs a government trying to manage an economy under constant foreign coercion/threat. Venezuela has the worldâs largest oil reserves, yet decades of foreign control, economic sanctions, and political pressure from the US have made it almost impossible for the wealth to benefit ordinary citizens. Thatâs why the story of âpriceless black goldâ fits â itâs wealth under siege, not simple greed or mismanagement. By all accounts Venezuela is a mess, just like Iran is a mess, but they were doing just fine until someone came along and tried to rob them.
This post was edited by ferdia on Dec 12 2025 01:32pm