A Venezuelan Oil Deal With Many Layers

The U.S. involvement in the country’s oil industry has dubious legal underpinnings and may end up being less than advertised. Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. Venezuela’s leftist government has long sought to portray the country’s democratic opposition as treacherous mercenaries beholden to American capital. That was especially true during Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election. In February of that year, Delcy Rodríguez, then Nicolás Maduro’s vice president, accused opposition leader María Corina Machado of not doing anything without first taking a phone call from her masters in Washington and claimed that, if given the chance, Machado would hand over Venezuela’s natural resources to the Americans. Gil Guerra is a contributing writer at The Dispatch and a fellow at Hudson Institute. A specialist in politics, security, and technology in Latin America and the Caribbean, he is a 2026-27 Novak Fellow with the Fund for American Studies. More We Think You’d Like