Trump Orders Blockade of Venezuelan Oil

Latin America Correspondent Jon Bonfiglio analyzes the latest escalation of US policy towards Venezuela. 

Transcript

Hi everyone. Well, here we are, with the US declaring a blockade of oil from Venezuela - not for US company Chevron of course, but yes for all others. The seizure of the tanker last week seems to have alerted them to the fact that by targeting the flow of oil, it can significantly harm the country, and continue the squeeze on Maduro. And if we weren’t clear on the action, it involves using the US military to achieve an economic priority for the Trump administration, in which regime change in favour of the Venezuelan opposition will open up the country to US companies and markets.

Some other statistics you may be interested in, alongside the fact that Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves on the planet, is the fact that it is also estimated to have 10,000 metric tons of unmined, exploitable gold reserves, which accounts for approximately 20% of the world's total estimated unmined gold reserves. Additionally, coltan, crucial in mobile/cell phones and other electronics, is in abundance in the country, with projected reserves potentially worth $100 billion US dollars. The real amount and value could be greater, however, given that many of its deposits remain largely unexploited, and uncertified by international bodies. It’s basically a virgin market. And as regards rare earth minerals, although uncharted, geologists believe there may be more substantial deposits, particularly in the northeast, towards the Essequibo region which Maduro unilaterally declared annexation of last year. 

The immediate effect of the blockade has been that crude oil prices have risen, from near four-year lows, and Caracas has denounced the move as "warmongering threats" and - aware of the significance of the term to a US audience - warning of “a new Vietnam.”. Venezuela has also filed a complaint with the UN Security Council.

Trump also declared Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO), in theory - internally in the US at least - providing legal cover for strikes and military actions. Continuing his bellicose rhetoric Trump said that Venezuela was "completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America".

At the same time, the flurry of activity included designating fentanyl a chemical weapon of mass destruction - which of course has nothing to do with Venezuela - and also declaring the Gulf Clan in neighboring Colombia (sometimes referred to as the Gulf Cartel) as an FTO.  

The region looks on with a split perspective. A particular political perspective from the neoliberal and nationalistic right wing sees an opportunity to ride the coattails of Trump’s interventions and re-shape the region towards its own ends, whereas the center and the left look on in horror as all norms and established protocol are ripped up. It echoes the unusually frank interview that Trump’s Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, gave to Vanity Fair, in which she says Trump believes ‘there’s nothing he can’t do’ as president. 

Additionally, it’s worth noting that Wiles also said that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro cries uncle”, giving the lie to the fact that these actions are about drugs reaching the USA, even more so to the fact that the US is at war with a non-state actor. 

None of which is to say that the US does not have a long, tawdry history of interventions in Latin America going back as far as you would like to look, but the current actions are certainly as brazen as has been seen in a long, long while.