By June Johnson
On January 29, the U.S. Treasury Department lifted legal restrictions that had prevented American oil companies from investing in Venezuela. This move marks an important advance to open Venezuela’s energy sector to U.S. interests, less than a month after the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro.
A “general license” was issued by the Treasury Department, allowing U.S. companies to purchase and trade Venezuelan oil, including transactions with Venezuelan State-owned oil company, PDVSA.
This development came after Venezuelan lawmakers formally ratified a sweeping reform of the country’s hydrocarbons law. The legislation was proposed by Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez on January 15 and grants private companies control over the production and sale of oil.
Furthermore, it allows disputes to be settled outside of Venezuelan courts, a charge long sought by U.S. and western companies to undermine Venezuelan sovereignty.
“We’re talking about the future. We are talking about the country that we are going to give to our children,” said Rodriguez, referring in flowery words to a country economically and politically subjugated by U.S. imperialism.
The license and de facto lifting of sanctions exclusively benefited U.S. imperialism and turned back the “de-dollarization” process championed by the PSUV regime. Oil giants such as Vitol and Trafigura have already signed deals with the U.S. government to export Venezuelan oil.
Under the rule of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) led by Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chávez, Venezuela expropriated assets belonging to U.S. oil companies such as ExxonMobil, while continuing to maintain a significant trade partnership with the U.S. until the initiation of sanctions in 2019.
The Trump administration has given up all pretense of installing “democracy” or combating drug trafficking. Following Maduro’s kidnapping, U.S. officials have said that U.S. alone, not the Venezuelan people, will decide to whom and under what conditions Venezuelan oil is sold, as well as who will “run the country.”
While Maduro’s administration and the PSUV’s State structure remain intact, it has become even clearer that the Venezuelan ruling class has no interest in maintaining the facade of the “Bolivarian revolution,” but is only interested in holding on to Power.
