By William Serafino – Sep 06, 2026
It is irresponsible to assert categorically that the US–Venezuela oil pact is beneficial [for Venezuela], especially if it is evaluated in isolation from issues such as external debt and fundamental political and geopolitical variables.
Yes, what was formally announced in terms of royalties and taxes allows for projecting, from a contractual standpoint (in accordance with the LOH), a scenario in which the nation could have fresh assets for its recovery.
However, it is one thing to recognize this and quite another to wish that thinking and reflection end there, under the false premise that there are only two possibilities: to support or reject what was signed.
I believe the perspective should be broader. What today appears favorable can change tomorrow, in line with a geopolitical dynamic in which Trump holds the country under threat amid a neocolonial offensive (the Monroe Doctrine) based on plundering natural resources and subjecting the entire region to Washington’s dictates.
It is no mere flight of fancy to estimate that the US would use its current and future power advantage to reduce tax burdens or extend the deadlines for its preferential access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. North American capitalism is hurtling toward an implosion due to its unsustainable debt levels, so a slightly more or less “acceptable” slice of the spoils would not suffice in the medium term.
Faced with a weakened Republic [of Venezuela], the temptation to plunder is too great. It is a mistake not to address it. It is to deny what has shaped the historical core of the bilateral Caracas–Washington relationship.
This is no speculation. It already happened in our 20th century, when in 1917, 1922, and later, the US imposed its infamous conditions on the national oil legislation, ensuring maximum benefits at Venezuela’s expense.
Even the timid attempts at oil sovereignty recovery by Gómez [Juan Vicente Gómez, de facto ruler of Venezuela from 1908 to 1935], a loyal ally of the White House, were aborted by pressures orchestrated between the [US] State Department and North American companies.
What truly concerns me is that the political dimension remains hidden behind the false objective neutrality of numbers and economics, as if they were not laden with ideology and pierced by power dynamics, defined by strategies, contradictions, and correlations of force.
Beyond the agreement itself, the US operates along its classic line of oil culture, striving to convince us that they want the best for us and that they will respect the win–win notion of what was agreed upon. In this way, they seek to legitimize a perfect crime: the plunder followed by the bombs, in turn validated by the entire national political spectrum (my fear since January, expressed here and in analytical articles).
Yes, it is also true that in this stormy journey toward a new world stage, everything can change. Trump’s reign may fall, and the Bolivarian Republic may finally breathe, without the [US] Southern Command pointing at it.
And it is there that politics are the only thing that can position us and give a proper, Venezuelan meaning to a historical juncture, wrapped in a chaotic geopolitical scenario in which we are just one factor in the great game of the powers.
By returning to the political, I mean to not lose sight of the lessons of history, to question the place of oil in our social and political life, and to address unresolved historical contradictions at the structural level. Because distributing the [oil] rent as an end in itself has already proven to be a failed scheme.
In other words, one should start with questions rather than closed answers that stifle critical thinking. I propose some:
What are the criteria that should govern our development profile, and through which mechanisms is addressing inequality proposed—for example, territorial inequality, to not go too far afield—that afflicts the country? Which regions are given priority?
What is the framework for renewing the idea of rent redistribution? How is it executed?
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Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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