“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before – until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us.” — President Donald Trump, December 17, 2025

Now we know what President Trump’s orchestrated Venezuelan crisis is all about. Trump is demanding that the Venezuelan government reverse its nationalization of its own assets that dates back to 1976 and turn the oil industry over to Washington.

Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in 1976. The state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. was created to control oil resources previously in the hands of Exxon, Shell, and Mobil.

A second phase of nationalization under Hugo Chávez in 2007 brought the remaining Orinoco Oil Belt projects under state control. 

WhenTrump says Venezuela stole US oil, he means Venezuela nationalized the resources that the United States stole from Venezuela.

Trump’s actions against Venezuela amount to piracy and an attempt to loot and plunder the country and its resources. It is yet another example of Washington operating entirely outside the realm of law.

And Russia’s president Putin is so unrealistic that he thinks he can make an agreement with Trump to end a conflict that feeds the profits of the powerful American military-security complex.

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Paul Craig Roberts is a renowned author and academic, chairman of The Institute for Political Economy where this article was originally published. Dr. Roberts was previously associate editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy during the Reagan Administration. He is a regular contributor to Global Research. 

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About the author:

Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury and Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal, has held numerous university appointments. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Dr. Roberts can be reached at http://paulcraigroberts.org