Why is the US terrorizing Venezuela?

[SeltzerMist]

Ah some sane washing again

 

[titan_tim]

Those oil companies own billions worth of infrastructure in Venezuela which Chavez and Maduro stole. Rigs, wells, refineries, etc. And it has been neglected for decades. So before committing to the operation to depose Maduro, it was probably a good idea to get confirmation and commitment from these companies that they were willing to go back in there and reclaim and repair their property. Else, who had the know-how and was going to pay to get Venezuela's oil industry and economy up and running again? The Venezuelans??

I'll be upfront here in saying I know very little about what happened in Venezuela in 1976 when they nationalized the oil industry. Literally trying to find what info I can to see if the claim of them stealing is legitimate.

From what I can see, Nationalizing the industry was completely legal to do. The issues aren't about theft, but compensation after the nationalization. Each company that invested DID get compensated, but some took more time than others to go through arbitration.

Exon invested 1.5-2 billion and was compensated 1.8 billion over 10 years.
Mobil invested 1.0-1.5 billion and was compensated 1.2 billion.
Chevron invested 1 billion and was compensated 1.0-1.1 billion.
Texaco invested 0.8-1.0 billion and got 0.9 billion back.
Gulf oil 0.5-0.8 billion and received 0.6 billion.

Venezuela didn't have many US owned refineries as well. Most were built by PDVSA or other nationalized entities. The US investments were mostly in exploration, production, and infrastructure. So the neglected refineries were their own to allow to rot.

So Trump saying that Venezuela stole from them is.... well.... it's Trump. He always doesn't say the entire story. If you want to say that I'm missing something here, I'm all ears.

 

[bombayjack]

Those oil companies own billions worth of infrastructure in Venezuela which Chavez and Maduro stole. Rigs, wells, refineries, etc. And it has been neglected for decades. So before committing to the operation to depose Maduro, it was probably a good idea to get confirmation and commitment from these companies that they were willing to go back in there and reclaim and repair their property. Else, who had the know-how and was going to pay to get Venezuela's oil industry and economy up and running again? The Venezuelans??

You're wasting your time trying to talk any sort of sense to these far left lunatics in here. They don't care anything at all about Venezuela or the people or it's economy. They only stated paying any sort of attention to Venezuela when Trumps name was mentioned and that was only so they could do some Trump bashing. Just look at 99% of the threads in this section, it's the same handful of members that write in them and all they post about is their hatred of Trump and the people that voted for him. You may as well go and shout at the sky rather than interacting with these far left posters, you've got more chance of God answering you back than trying to get these members to see anything other than hatred and division.
I was looking for a setting to block this part of the forum as it's a complete waste of time posting anything in it, I'll ask one of the mods to see if they can block it for me, or if a mod is looking how can I block this section?

 

[titan_tim]

You're wasting your time trying to talk any sort of sense to these far left lunatics in here. They don't care anything at all about Venezuela or the people or it's economy. They only stated paying any sort of attention to Venezuela when Trumps name was mentioned and that was only so they could do some Trump bashing. Just look at 99% of the threads in this section, it's the same handful of members that write in them and all they post about is their hatred of Trump and the people that voted for him. You may as well go and shout at the sky rather than interacting with these far left posters, you've got more chance of God answering you back than trying to get these members to see anything other than hatred and division.

Simple question with everything we know now:
Did Trump attack Venezuela to help the Venezuelan people? Or did he do it to steal oil? Your answer will easily show how entrenched you are in your views.

I was looking for a setting to block this part of the forum as it's a complete waste of time posting anything in it, I'll ask one of the mods to see if they can block it for me, or if a mod is looking how can I block this section?

It's called self control. Seems like you're asking someone to force you to have some.

 

[SeltzerMist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/ameri...venezuela-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2026-01-05/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...zuela-attack-that-captured-maduro-poll-finds/

What a staggering amount of far left commies this country has! /s

 

[BigOnYa]

I'll ask one of the mods to see if they can block it for me, or if a mod is looking how can I block this section?

This is just like your King Flump, claims to be for free speech/ no censorship, then wants to block all media from talking bad about him. If you don't like this thread then leave, don't read it anymore "Heavy". But we know you will be back again and again, to spread more lies and hate.

 

[SeltzerMist]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/world/americas/venezuela-airstrike-civilian-deaths.html

Death toll currently at 40, I've seen higher counts reported but from sources I'm not familiar with.

 

[Hanafuda]

I'll be upfront here in saying I know very little about what happened in Venezuela in 1976 when they nationalized the oil industry. Literally trying to find what info I can to see if the claim of them stealing is legitimate.

From what I can see, Nationalizing the industry was completely legal to do. The issues aren't about theft, but compensation after the nationalization. Each company that invested DID get compensated, but some took more time than others to go through arbitration.

Exon invested 1.5-2 billion and was compensated 1.8 billion over 10 years.
Mobil invested 1.0-1.5 billion and was compensated 1.2 billion.
Chevron invested 1 billion and was compensated 1.0-1.1 billion.
Texaco invested 0.8-1.0 billion and got 0.9 billion back.
Gulf oil 0.5-0.8 billion and received 0.6 billion.

Venezuela didn't have many US owned refineries as well. Most were built by PDVSA or other nationalized entities. The US investments were mostly in exploration, production, and infrastructure. So the neglected refineries were their own to allow to rot.

So Trump saying that Venezuela stole from them is.... well.... it's Trump. He always doesn't say the entire story. If you want to say that I'm missing something here, I'm all ears.

Seems to be a trend. I wasn't talking about 1976, I was referring to 2007-2009. And while there were orders of compensation issued from international courts, Chavez and later Maduro mostly never paid up.

Post automatically merged: Jan 5, 2026

You're wasting your time trying to talk any sort of sense to these far left lunatics in here. They don't care anything at all about Venezuela or the people or it's economy. They only stated paying any sort of attention to Venezuela when Trumps name was mentioned and that was only so they could do some Trump bashing. Just look at 99% of the threads in this section, it's the same handful of members that write in them and all they post about is their hatred of Trump and the people that voted for him. You may as well go and shout at the sky rather than interacting with these far left posters, you've got more chance of God answering you back than trying to get these members to see anything other than hatred and division.
I was looking for a setting to block this part of the forum as it's a complete waste of time posting anything in it, I'll ask one of the mods to see if they can block it for me, or if a mod is looking how can I block this section?

Dude check those stats. I've been here over 20 years. You don't need to tell me whether I'm wasting my time or not. These people fling the word Nazi around like sprinkles on ice cream, and more than once in my direction. I disagree strongly with most of what gets said here. But except for one person in particular, I still consider everyone here a friend, in the online discussion board sense at least. They're diehard left wingers, but so was I about 30 years ago. So I try my best not to judge, and simply state my opinion and there it is. At the end of the day, I'm still engaging with the same people on other subforums here on gaming and recreational pursuits. Aside from politics, I have plenty in common with them. And politics is just politics, for me anyway.

 

[DiscostewSM]

I'll be upfront here in saying I know very little about what happened in Venezuela in 1976 when they nationalized the oil industry. Literally trying to find what info I can to see if the claim of them stealing is legitimate.

From what I can see, Nationalizing the industry was completely legal to do. The issues aren't about theft, but compensation after the nationalization. Each company that invested DID get compensated, but some took more time than others to go through arbitration.

Exon invested 1.5-2 billion and was compensated 1.8 billion over 10 years.
Mobil invested 1.0-1.5 billion and was compensated 1.2 billion.
Chevron invested 1 billion and was compensated 1.0-1.1 billion.
Texaco invested 0.8-1.0 billion and got 0.9 billion back.
Gulf oil 0.5-0.8 billion and received 0.6 billion.

Venezuela didn't have many US owned refineries as well. Most were built by PDVSA or other nationalized entities. The US investments were mostly in exploration, production, and infrastructure. So the neglected refineries were their own to allow to rot.

So Trump saying that Venezuela stole from them is.... well.... it's Trump. He always doesn't say the entire story. If you want to say that I'm missing something here, I'm all ears.

From what is understood, what amounted to the largest US sanction on Venezuela's oil sector happened in 2019 under Trump. He blacklisted the PDVSA, freezing its US assets and banned American companies from doing business with it. It was pretty much the point where it prevented Venezuela from paying the compensation granted to those oil companies. Biden had eased up some of those sanctions in 2022, but Trump reversed those concessions just over a month after starting his 2nd term in Feb 2025.

 

[titan_tim]

Seems to be a trend. I wasn't talking about 1976, I was referring to 2007-2009. And while there were orders of compensation issued from international courts, Chavez and later Maduro mostly never paid up.

View attachment 549569

Oh interesting! So there are more layers to the outcome.

1976 was the nationalization of the oil itself and the industry, but that didn't mean no foreign participation.

Then in 1990 saw the Apertura Petrolera, which gave foreign companies MUCH stronger control with really low royalties to Venezuela. It also gave them extreme control over the strategic resources in the Orinoco belt.

Then when oil prices skyrocketed, Chavez wanted to balance the profit from the companies towards Venezuela. He tried negotiating with them, to which some like Chevron accepted, but others like Exxon and ConocoPhillips rejected. That's when Chavez nationalized operational control and equity stakes saying that the Apertura Petrolera violated the original 1976 intent.

So definitely a douche move, but if I'll play the devils advocate, It's somewhat understandable. The oil companies were taking the lions share of the profit from the nationalized resources of Venezuela. He could have avoided a lot of the headache by paying the companies back more like they did in in 1976, but we don't know what happened behind the scenes at all.

For comparison of profits, here where $1 million in oil would go:
Before 1976:
$500,000–600,000 - Venezuela
$400,000–500,000 - foreign oil companies

After 1976:
$650,000–750,000 - Venezuela
$250,000–350,000 - foreign partners / contractors

After 1990:
$200,000–350,000 - Venezuela
$650,000–800,000 - foreign oil companies

After 2007:
$700,000–900,000 - Venezuela
$100,000–300,000 - foreign companies

So it's quite a huge swing in profits after 1990. Not sure how Venezuela would have ever agreed to such a shitty contract when it probably wasn't necessary.

 

[Moe87]

I'll ask one of the mods to see if they can block it for me, or if a mod is looking how can I block this section?

You asked about safe space yesterday, so welcome to political section that is one of most toxic ever in this forum. As for me, no thanks, I don't need safe space and I just remind everyone to stay civil.

I called one of member for shit-posting and you just defend the conservatives who shit-posted in here, so GBATemp is not 4chan. I don't care about politics but I'm just not fond of shit-posting, even if it is come from liberal members too. Both sides are equally guilty.

Hanafuda is fine and I admire this member for shared their opposite views.

It is not hard to ignore the political section.

 

[titan_tim]

Had to make sure this wasn't made with AI. Seems it's a real comic back in 1990.

 

[Xzi]

The matter is more complex than Internet keyboard warriors present it.

I'm sure you said the same thing about regime change in Iraq too. At least in that instance the US actually finished the job and had a more thorough plan in the early stages, but the end result was still extremely bad in the long term. For that matter, wasn't it Trump who ultimately agreed to give the Taliban full control over the country? Can't wait to see which terrorist organization he puts in charge of Venezuela.

 

[BlazeHeatnix]

Still think we live in a free country? Still think we're not turning into Russia?

I'm sure all the people saying "who cares if it was illegal, it was the right thing to do" would love to get rid of free speech, because, well, how could they possibly feel sympathy for DEFENDERS of a DICTATORSHIP? Serves em right, I guess. In before Foxi4 comes in and writes some pretentious essay about how it's technically legal to do this.

Speaking of...

The legality of the move is dubious considering Venezuela is a part of the UN - this kind of development undermines the idea that UN membership offers any kind of protection from the ire of its members. On the flip side, it’s been a good couple of years of the naysayers praying out loud for the same to happen to Putin (rightfully so, I might add), so I can’t treat complaints along the lines of “attack on a sovereign nation” too seriously. The situation is still developing, so we’ll see what happens. I find it hard to imagine a full-scale conflict becoming a reality - Venezuelan figureheads are well-aware that they’d get steamrolled facing the entire military might of the United States. Ideally this leads to a new election and a new leader that is more aligned with the west, so here’s for hoping. Not a huge fan of interventionism myself, but those most affected seem to be cheering. How much of that is genuine and how much is alphabet agency gaslighting remains to be seen.

This you?

The law is always binding, particularly the Constitution which is the bedrock of all law in the land. If you think your opposition is breaking the law, there are avenues for recourse as established in law. You don’t get to break it based solely on spite.

Funny how for the last few years, whenever Republicans or Trump did something fucked up in the news, you were always there bending over backwards to try and justify it, saying because it's established under law, it's fine and anyone who complains is just a whiner. Always talking about how important the law is, how the law and the Constitution are absolute, and how obeying the law is so important for a functioning, and just, society. But when Trump does something irrefutably, objectively, provably, explicitly, unbelievably illegal in this instance, you switch gears to say "well I don't agree with it, but the ends justify the means". How fucking convenient for you.

"Oh but Dems when Putin-"

No. Fuck off. I am done entertaining your whataboutism non-arguments. Don't change the subject, don't make this about anyone other than you. Just acknowledge the fact that you don't have any actual principles. It turns out that all you have ever believed in, when you cook down all your pseudo-intellectual bullshit, is just whatever owns the libs.

 

[SeltzerMist]

I mean, just look closely at their avatar and that tells you pretty much all you need to know....

 

[DiscostewSM]

I mean, just look closely at their avatar and that tells you pretty much all you need to know....

We've had footage since mid-2025 that shows increased evidence of it all being staged. His ear "miraculously" being whole again already stirred suspicion, let alone the poor handling by security who let Trump do his fist-pumping among other things. But the footage shows staff ushering photographers into position for pictures, and the flag overhead being lowered to get into the shots.

"But people died!" Yes, some people did (a man in the stands behind Trump, and the shooter as well), but when we look at what Trump has been doing lately, it's clear that he's more than willing to let such things happen for his benefit. In the words of Lord Farquaad: "Some of you may die, but it's a risk I am willing to make."

 

[Reualed]

Wow, great. So, one thing that has been urging me at least is the seeming lack of a regime change plan. For context, yoinking the dictator doesn't stop the keys of power in charge from doing their thing.

And apparently, that's because, there is no plan. So the old system is still going to be in power for the time being. god I hate the hypocrisy.


So we invaded a sovereign country, stole their oil, claimed that it was because to get rid of the dictator "and drugs". Yet, not get rid of the system that enabled the dictator.

 

[BlazeHeatnix]

"But we freed Venezuelans" is the new "but we freed the slaves". It's the same scapegoat they use to childishly shut down any possible argument you make.

"We freed Venezuela!"
You imperialistically and illegally invaded a sovereign nation.
"But we freed Venezuelans!"
You de-stabilized most of South America and enabled cartels and dictatorships to gain power to begin with.
"But we freed Venezuelans!"
You bombed the shit out of one of their cities and killed hundreds of civilians, not counting the murders and war crimes on the sea.
"But we freed Venezuelans!"
You don't actually have any evidence of Maduro committing crimes against the U.S., much less him having anything to do with Fentanyl.
"But we freed Venezuelans!"
You stole their oil and plan to steal more than that. There's still a blockade, and their economy's about to collapse.
"But we freed Venezuelans!"
You don't actually plan to have a real regime change.
"Venezuelans don't care, why are you defending dictators?"

"We freed the slaves!"
That was 150 years ago and you are not the same party.
"But we freed the slaves!"
You just decided prison labor was more efficient and you take every chance you get to gain more prison laborers.
"But we freed the slaves!"
Slavery still isn't illegal in the U.S..
"But we freed the slaves!"
You enabled farmers to own slaves through migrant workers.
"But we freed the slaves!"
You downplay how horrible slavery was and encourage our schools to spin it as if it was a good thing.
"But we freed the slaves!"
You've been trying to roll back civil rights for years and are closer than ever to doing so.
"Black people don't care, why are you defending slavery?

For how much Conservashits like to say facts don't care about your feelings, they sure do like using the feelings of oppressed groups as a shield.

 

[titan_tim]

"We freed the slaves!"

Whenever someone says that the Republicans were the ones who freed the slaves, I just tell them that it wasn't the Democrats vs the Republicans. It was the north vs the south. To this day, the south is still full of ingrates that like to fly the confederate flag.

 

[SeltzerMist]

I usually correct them by stating the liberals freed the slaves because that's historically accurate. Sometimes MAGA gets triggered by that, but they're the party currently standing side by side with Confederate flags and etc so that only supports my statement.