Republished from the UK Website Left Horizons.
Predatory imperialism strikes Venezuela
By Greg Oxley of French socialist website, La Riposte
The bombing of Caracas and the kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores marked the unleashing of a large-scale imperialist offensive against Venezuela. Its objective is nothing less than to grab the country’s natural resources and to place its government under the effective control of the American administration.
The intervention took place after the build-up, since August 2025, of a powerful military presence off the Venezuelan coast. This includes the USS Gerald R. Ford (the largest aircraft carrier in the world), the USS Winston S. Churchill, the USS Bainbridge and at least 9 other first-class warships, equipped with an extremely powerful air strike force and some 4,500 marines. 18,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Florida and 15,000 in Puerto Rico, where a naval base, closed for decades, has been recommissioned.
This deployment is of a scale and firepower capacity that completely belies the pretext of drug trafficking that the American administration has used to justify its existence. To destroy thirty or so boats designated – without the slightest evidence – as drug smugglers, a surveillance operation and a single fighter jet would have been enough.
Fighting drug trafficking was only a sham, especially since Trump has nothing against drug traffickers, provided they are on his side. We know that the former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced to 45 years in prison in June 2024 for his participation in drug trafficking in collusion with the Sinaloa cartel and other crimes, was pardoned by Trump.
Another less publicized case is that of Ross Ulbricht, a large-scale seller of narcotics and other illegal products on the dark web. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole by the American justice system in 2015. Trump pardoned him in January 2025, a few days into his second term. The donation of one million dollars from Ulbricht’s mother to candidate Trump’s presidential campaign might have had something to do with that! Obviously, the spectacular and highly publicised destruction of purportedly drug-running boats was just political theatrics, to cover preparations for war against Venezuela.
Militarily, Venezuela is completely held in check. Its air defences have been partially destroyed, and any attempt to use the remaining part would be suicidal. During the January 3 attack, a few Venezuelan fighter jets took off, but all it took was for the Americans to tell them to turn back or be destroyed for them to give up the fight. As for Venezuela’s maritime defence, it is very far from being able to compete with the American fleet.
[photo – wiki commons]
In the first press conference after Maduro’s kidnapping, Trump said that from now on, Venezuela will be “run” by his administration, and that Delcy Rodriguez, now Venezuela’s interim president, is ready to co-operate in this takeover. Marco Rubio, his secretary of state, reiterated this statement. However, Delcy Rodriguez then denounced the American intervention and vowed to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty and protect its natural resources.
It was not immediately clear how the US administration could effectively, to quote Trump, “take all the decisions”, take control of the industry and seize the country’s oil resources. Nor is the nature of its relationship with the post-Maduro regime in Caracas clear. Everything is still not out in the open, but this week’s events have provided a better understanding of the situation.
The Venezuelan regime
As far as the regime is concerned, the Venezuelan state is now, and has been for a long time, in the hands of the military caste at the head of the armed forces. The power, prestige and personal wealth of this caste depend largely on oil windfalls, shady deals and corruption.
The Bolivarian Revolution, under the leadership of Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013, was not brought to a decisive conclusion. Chávez implemented a program of important social reforms, but capitalism remained intact and the “Bolivarian” bureaucracy, freed from any semblance of democratic control, became arrogant, imbued with a sense of their own untrammelled power, personal enrichment and corruption.
Today’s Venezuelan government is an authoritarian and repressive regime, responsible for brutal arbitrary arrests and detention, as well as numerous murders and “forced disappearances”. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other advocacy organizations have documented many cases of torture and cruelty against opponents of the regime, including beatings, electric shocks, asphyxiation with plastic bags and long-term solitary confinement in filthy disciplinary cells.
The victims of this repression are not only political figures, but also trade unionists, strikers, and many who people who have simply protested against poverty and social injustice or who done nothing other than publicly criticise the regime in one way or another.
The country is deeply scarred by glaring social inequality; the impoverishment of workers and of the middle classes; unemployment and mass emigration. The regime’s social base – which was massive in the Chavez era – has been greatly undermined by social and economic stagnation and state repression. Clearly, the weakening of the regime, and its internal dislocation, greatly facilitated the American intervention. The CIA had long since recruited agents from Maduro’s inner circle. The fact that the latter had to entrust his personal guard to Cuban special forces speaks volumes about the fragility of his position.
Imperialist stranglehold on oil
For Trump and Rubio, overthrowing the regime by force and installing a puppet government in its place would be a dangerous option, possibly dragging them into a long-term war of uncertain outcome. Even this option cannot be categorically ruled out. The US administration prefers, at least for now, not to impose a “regime change”, but a change in the policy of the existing regime. There is no doubt that Trump has the means to achieve this. And should this fail, he will still be able to hit Venezuela in a much more devastating way than in the intervention of January 3.
A first indication of the balance of power in this conflict is provided by the Venezuelan government’s decision to release certain political prisoners – those who mattered, in short, in the eyes of the American authorities. Rodriguez calls this about-face a “gesture for peace.” However, for Trump, the priority issue in the conflict is that of Venezuela’s oil resources. He has bluntly stated that Venezuelan oil “belongs to the United States”, that the regime there has stolen it, and that he wants to take it back.
And he can do it. He is taking the oil now and will in future. Who can stop him? The US armada is there to intimidate the regime, on the one hand, but it also means that Venezuela is under a total oil embargo (and not just oil, potentially), giving the US economic power of life-or-death over Venezuela. Only shipments to the United States can get through. Currently, oil shipments are being managed directly by the American authorities.
Trump has asked 14 major U.S. and European oil corporations, including Chevron, Exxon Mobile, ConocoPhillips and Continental Resources, Repsol, Shell and Eni, to take advantage of the takeover of Venezuelan reserves. He asked them to invest $100 billion to build new oil facilities and renovate existing ones.
But industry leaders are reluctant, at least for now. The fact is that even if corporations were willing to invest so heavily, it would probably take years before they could make profits that would be concerning enough from their point of view. The social and political stability of the country is also a problem. The level of long-term risk is indeed considerable.
It is possible, however, that the reluctance displayed by the leaders of the multinationals is only strategic, in the sense that they know how important these investments are to Trump and hope to be able to obtain concessions and financial guarantees in exchange. In any case, for the time being, the American administration is organising the confiscation of existing production.
Since the implementation of the maritime blockade, oil tankers trying to defy it have been intercepted and their shipments automatically become American property. But the imperialist brigandry does not stop there. The Financial Times of January 6th, 2026 detailed how Trump proceeded to seize all the oil still blocked in the port area, the value of which is estimated at $3 billion.
“Donald Trump is asking the United States to bring sanctioned Venezuelan oil to American ports. He said Venezuelan authorities would hand over between 30 million and 50 million barrels of authorized crude to the United States, a sign that his administration is making good on its desire to control the country’s oil sector.”
The oil seized by the United States will then be sold at market price. Trump said that the income generated by the sale will be placed in a bank account managed by himself, personally:
“This money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure that it is used for the benefit of the Venezuelan people and the United States,”
On his Truth Social platform, he says that the seized oil:
“will be transported by storage vessels and brought directly to the unloading docks in the United States […] I have directed Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan immediately.”
The Financial Times explains that, “These remarks come as a flotilla of U.S. tankers is heading to Venezuelan waters to begin loading oil from the country, which has been blocked in ports because of Washington’s naval blockade.” Trump estimates that this operation would give him up to 50 million barrels of oil, the equivalent of six weeks of Venezuelan production.
Submission of the Venezuelan regime
The American strategy also relies on the greed and corruption of the regime. Rodriquez and the leaders of the armed forces want above all to preserve their power, their privileges and their personal wealth. If that means dealing with US imperialism, they will, especially since Trump has directly threatened them with “the same fate as Maduro, or worse” if they don’t.
The Venezuelan government has not even tried to resist this imperialist plunder. On the contrary, it approved the handing over of 30 million barrels to the Americans on January 6. When Trump says that Venezuela is effectively managed by the executive branch of the United States, he is not bluffing. He describes Rodriquez as an “ally” and a “collaborator”. Rodriguez’s power is largely nominal. On all the issues that matter to them, it is now the United States that pulls the strings and sets the policy of its government.
[Image – La Riposte]
The sight of Maduro, handcuffed and blindfolded, being taken out of the country after an audacious lightning operation, undoubtedly made an impression. The protests about the legality of his arrest are of no consequence. As is often the case with Trump, regarding his actions in the United States or elsewhere, legal or not, what is done is done. And since the US Congress is largely under his thumb, he has a free hand to do what he wants.
We denounce the murderous attack on Venezuela and the kidnapping of Maduro and Flores. This is an unacceptable imperialist aggression, whether it be legal or not. However, the personal fate of the two captives is not the most important question, except, of course, to Maduro and Flores themselves. Our focus should be on the far more important issues of US imperialism and the fate of the Venezuelan people.
Maduro is indignant, naturally. He maintains that his rights have been violated, and that is certainly the case. However, at least he will have a trial, a team of lawyers, and the opportunity to defend himself. No one is going to connect electrical cables to his body. He will not be beaten with a belt or a baton. He will not be murdered or suffer “forced disappearance”, which is more than can be said of his opponents in Venezuela.
The Cuban dimension
An important aspect of U.S. strategy in the Caribbean is that of Cuba. Economic, diplomatic and military cooperation between Cuba and Venezuela dates back to the coming to power of Hugo Chavez in 1998. Venezuela exported an average of 35,000 barrels of oil per day to Cuba in 2023. The volume of exports was 100,000 barrels per day in 2008. But despite this decline, it was still five times the amount supplied by Russia and a significant boon for the Cuban economy.
In return, the Cuban government has provided medical professionals and hospital equipment, as well as military personnel and highly specialised intelligence agents. Since Juan Guaidó’s 2019 coup attempt, which was backed by Trump and Rubio, and the imposition of economic sanctions, the security and intelligence apparatus from Cuba has become much larger.
The security link between the two countries is now weakened by the American intervention and the blockade. Trump has said that the Cuban regime “will fall soon.” That remains to be seen. What is certain, however, is that by stopping the export of oil to Cuba, he is dealing a heavy blow to a Cuban economy already in difficulty and increasing its isolation. Russia and China are staying away from the situation and their involvement in Venezuelan affairs will now be seriously reduced.
Strategic Reorientation of the USA
The decision to launch a military and economic operation against Venezuela is part of the new National Security Strategy developed by the current US administration. In a sense, this strategy amounts to a scaling down the ambitions of the United States in the world arena compared to what it has been in recent decades, moving it from a global hegemonic power to a more regional power.
The current administration is no longer the bearer of a “globalisation” supported by an intensification of international “free trade”, using its military power and reach to defend its own interests and, by extension, those of the Western imperialist powers as a whole, and heavily involved in international institutions and agencies.
The document recently produced by the current administration to define its strategic priorities clearly states that the main pivot of US interests is in the Western Hemisphere (the North and South American continents) and presents this as a “Trump” corollary to the “Monroe Doctrine”. This doctrine, announced by US President James Monroe in 1823, stipulated, in short, that the United States should not interfere in the affairs of the European powers, but concentrate on the Americas: “To the Europeans, the old continent, to the Americans the New World”.
[From a broadcast interview on CNN – 4 January 2026]
In essence, Monroe wanted to tell the European powers that they should not attempt to recolonise the newly independent countries of Latin America. In Monroe’s time, the United States was a relatively small and essentially agricultural economic entity, with just 20 states and a population of about 10 million people. Its share of world trade was only 2.6%.
The allusion to the Monroe Doctrine, which Trump seems to see as a justification for his aggression against Venezuela, is completely nonsensical. From the point of view of US imperialism, seeking to restrict the US sphere of intervention in this way is not only prejudicial to its interests, but also practically impossible to maintain in practice, given the global reach and economic power of the giant multinational corporations that lie at the heart of its economy.
Military and diplomatic strategy must align with economic strategy, or else do serious harm to the latter. Trade between the United States and Latin America was worth $450 million in 2024, compared to $1500 billion with the European Union and $2000 billion with Asia! Economically (by imposing protectionist tariffs), diplomatically and militarily, Trump is weakening the ties between the United States and Europe. This is a disastrous policy, even for his own camp.
The strains within NATO offer new possibilities for Russia’s imperial expansion. By abandoning its European alliances – even making concrete preparations for the upcoming annexation of Greenland, which belongs to its “ally” Denmark – the US is freeing up military resources to pay more attention to its main international rival, namely Chinese imperialism. The US priority is to contain China’s economic expansion and growing military power as much as possible.
Given these strategic priorities, the fate of Ukraine matters little to Trump who, through all the apparent zigzags in his attitude toward the Russia-Ukraine war, has repeatedly pressured Ukraine to make significant concessions to Russia. However, if Russia were to agree to stop the war in exchange for the annexation of eastern Ukraine, it would only be the prelude to a new Russian offensive to take the entire country.
Spheres of influence
It is as if Washington and Moscow have agreed to turn a blind eye to the extension, through war if necessary, of their respective spheres of influence. Russia’s next targets may well be towards other European countries, especially since the latter can no longer count on support from the United States.
Putin’s war to colonise Ukraine, the genocide in Gaza, the numerous wars in Africa, the threat to Greenland, the rise of protectionism, the arms race and now the aggression against Venezuela all mark a turning point in the history of international relations that raises the prospect of further wars and genocides around the world.
The imperialist aggression against Venezuela is further proof of the realities of capitalism and imperialism. The world is dominated by great powers with an insatiable thirst for profit and domination.
So-called “international law” does not work in the face of predators like Trump, Putin or Netanyahu. It exists only on paper. Who is going to impose it? Recently, the true foundation of international relations has been brutally explained by Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff. Asked by CNN‘s Jake Tapper (January 4, 2026) about the legality of the attack on Venezuela and the abduction of its head of state, he replied:
“Look, we live in a world where you can talk as much as you want about international courtesies and everything else, but[…] the real world […] is governed by force, governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world. He continued, “We are a superpower. And under President Trump, we’re going to behave like a superpower.“
This is the authentic voice of imperialism! It reminds us of the stark truth as stated by the Venezuelan-born American socialist, Daniel De Leon (1852-1914). “Capitalism means war,” he said. He could perhaps not have imagined just how right he was, since the terrifying carnage of 1914-1918 just weeks after his death. Recent experience shows us that this idea has lost none of its relevance. If we want to prevent new invasions, new pillage, new carnage, we must find a way to put an end to the system that is the cause of it.
The historic tragedy of the current situation in the Caribbean is that it was precisely in Venezuela, some 20 years ago, that the possibility of overthrowing capitalism and spreading the transformation to the entire Latin American continent presented itself.
The opportunity was lost, alas. But for future struggles, let us never forget the fundamental lesson of that failure, namely that no resistance movement, no matter how massive and impressive, can truly defeat and abolish exploitation and oppression unless it succeeds in taking control of all the essential wheels of economic and political power out of the hands of the capitalists.
Only in this way can we hope to build a society based on democratic management of wealth, for the benefit of all, and begin to free the world from the law of profit and imperialist greed.
[This article is a translated and slightly edited version of an article in the French socialist website – La Riposte. The original can be found here]
[Featured photo – from Trumps “Truth Social” platform]
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