Venezuela
represents everything that the U.S. opposes in the region: socialism,
anti-imperialism, economic independence via energy exports and a
viable ally for China, Russia, Iran and other countries that oppose
the hegemonic designs of Washington.
by
Eric Draitser
Part
2 - Target: Venezuela
There is a
misconception spreading through the Beltway like an airborne virus,
infectious in its obliviousness to reality: the idea that the
administration of President Donald Trump is so bogged down by scandal
and controversy that it cannot achieve any geopolitical and strategic
objectives. In fact, the opposite is true. Like a cornered animal,
Trump and his team are exceedingly dangerous, both in their
unpredictability and, strangely enough, also in their predictability.
And when it
comes to Venezuela, their strategy is transparent.
Oil reigns
supreme in the minds of Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and
the rest of the administration. In the case of Venezuela, oil remains
the lifeblood of its economy. So in a very real sense, the White
House and State Department’s interests converge with the economic
imperatives of corporate America in the Bolivarian Republic.
Tillerson
represents perhaps the perfect embodiment of U.S. government
attitudes toward Venezuela. A slick oil man through and through,
Tillerson has long sought to destabilize Venezuela in an attempt to
reassert ExxonMobil’s supremacy in the country.
Venezuela’s
recent rocky history begins with Chavez’s nationalization of the
oil sector under the state oil company PDVSA in 2007. The Chavez
government offered ExxonMobil book value for assets that it intended
to assume control over, while the Tillerson-led company demanded
market value, which they priced at roughly $15 billion. Eventually,
the World Bank’s arbitration court ordered Venezuela to pay $1.6
billion to ExxonMobil.
But
ExxonMobil’s anger at Caracas was certainly not assuaged with that
settlement agreement. In fact, the following decade saw ExxonMobil
step up efforts to destabilize Venezuela’s socialist government
using a variety of tactics.
None have
been more potent than Venezuela’s border dispute with Guyana. At
the heart of this border dispute is energy and the billions of
dollars in profits likely to be extracted from the offshore
territory. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), “The
Guyana Suriname Basin [is] 2nd in the world for prospectivity among
the world’s unexplored basins and 12th for oil among all the
world’s basins – explored and unexplored.” The basin, which
stretches from eastern Venezuela to the shores of northern Brazil, is
one of the major prizes in the world for energy corporations and
governments alike.
Indeed, the
USGS estimates that roughly 15 billion barrels of undiscovered oil
and 42 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves lie under the basin, just
waiting to be extracted. Such staggering economic potential has made
the territorial waters off Venezuela and Guyana highly sought after,
especially since contesting border claims make legal obstacles to
exploration far more surmountable, as they allow companies to deal
with a compliant government in Georgetown, rather than an independent
one in Caracas.
So it should
come as no surprise that Tillerson and ExxonMobil have been backing
the Guyanese government. Venezuelan officials say their support has
included providing financial support to Guyanese President David
Granger’s election campaign in 2015. Of course, ExxonMobil has
denied these claims. But the company cannot deny the fact that, as
the Huffington Post reported:
“Under
Secretary Clinton, the State Department set up a program called the
Energy Governance and Capacity Initiative. The program aims to both
promote fossil development and prevent the ‘resource curse’ by
providing ‘independent oversight’ of the oil and gas industry in
nascent oil states. The program is currently helping the Guyanese
government write profit sharing agreements, environmental
regulations, and develop a strong rule of law to counterbalance
corporate power.”
In other
words, the U.S. State Department oversees the program that is
literally writing the regulatory and financial architecture that will
govern energy extraction in Guyana. And Tillerson, the former CEO for
ExxonMobil, is the top official at the State Department. The conflict
of interest is clear as day.
Indeed,
ExxonMobil has effectively made Guyana into a subsidiary. As the
Washington Post noted:
“…countries
such as Guyana that have no existing oil industry are considered
‘frontier’ locations, and typically offer the most lucrative
terms to foreign companies willing to invest. Guyana’s foreign
partners stand to earn 60 to 65 percent of profits… a far larger
share than what more established nations are willing to offer
investors.”
Does anyone
really believe that the State Department is not going to target
Venezuela when it is led by a man who has fomented conflict with
Venezuela, is raking in billions from Venezuela’s neighbor and has
a long-standing vendetta against the Bolivarian Republic?
In fact,
Tillerson’s oil goons have already uncorked the champagne numerous
times this year, having announced multiple oil finds off the coast
that are worth billions. Naturally, this is as much political as
economic. For Tillerson and Trump, every barrel of oil extracted from
Guyana is a thumb in the eye of the Venezuelan government.
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