By Harold Pease, Ph. D.
Respecting the 2025-2026 U.S. armada blockade of Venezuela, Trump maintains it is there, “Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us.” He has tied this to past nationalizations of oil companies under Venezuelan governments (especially socialists Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro), characterizing them as “theft of U.S. property” and linking Venezuelan oil revenues to funding drug trafficking and other crimes.
Is this true? I asked ChatGpt.com. AI is almost always the sum of what the choir says, and “choir-like” all Deep State sources say this is preposterous and suggests Trump is an idiot for saying it. Worse, disrupting the world by acting on it! BUT there is truth in what he is saying. Change the word stole to “acquired without consent and/or full payment,” and it’s the same.
Venezuela’s oil industry began in earnest in the early 20th century, with significant discoveries around Lake Maracaibo. The country’s vast reserves attracted foreign investment, primarily from American companies. Under the dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez (1908–1935), generous concessions were granted to firms like Standard Oil (which became Exxon) and its subsidiary Creole Petroleum, Gulf Oil, and Mobil. These companies built infrastructure, extracted oil, and exported it, making Venezuela one of the world’s top oil producers by the mid-20th century. By 1970, production peaked at around 3.8 million barrels per day. However, this era was marked by growing resentment over foreign control, as Venezuelans felt the profits largely benefited outsiders rather than the nation.
Post-World War II, democratic governments began asserting more control. In 1943, a new Venezuelan hydrocarbons law increased royalties and taxes on foreign operators. The creation of OPEC in 1960, co-founded by Venezuela, further empowered oil-producing nations to negotiate better terms. Global events in the early 1970s accelerated change: Nationalizations in Libya (1971), Algeria, and Iraq, along with the 1973 oil crisis triggered by the Yom Kippur War and OPEC embargo, inspired similar moves. Oil prices quadrupled, creating an economic boom in Venezuela and making nationalization politically and financially feasible.
Under President Rafael Caldera (1969–1974), Venezuela passed laws to expand state oversight, including the 1971 nationalization of the natural gas industry. By then, foreign companies—mostly U.S.-based—had invested over $5 billion in the sector, controlling the largest petroleum complex in Latin America. Public opinion strongly favored reclaiming the industry, with polls showing support for nationalization but also a preference for retaining foreign expertise initially.
In August 1975, The Venezuelan Congress passed the Organic Law that Reserves to the State the Industry and Trade of Hydrocarbons, setting the stage for nationalization effective January 1, 1976. Carlos Andrés Pérez proclaimed the takeover at the historic Mene Grande oilfield, symbolizing the end of foreign concessions. The law created Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) as a state-owned holding company, with subsidiaries absorbing operations from the expropriated firms. The Venezuelan government paid approximately $1 billion in compensation for the expropriated assets—covering wells, refineries, and infrastructure. Definitely too little!!
Because of this hit on the free market, production began declining post-1976. By the 1990s, Venezuela partially reopened to foreign investment, but the 1976 event marked a pivotal assertion of sovereignty over resources long dominated by American interests. Many U.S. and European companies (Exxon, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Shell, etc.) lost or were forced to restructure their assets to survive. Compensation offered at nationalization was generally seen as inadequate by the companies, leading to almost constant litigation with them thereafter.
Devout Socialist. Hugo Chávez came to power in 1998 accelerating government ownership of the oil industry. Many U.S. firms (like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips) refused the terms and exited. 2009 saw expanded state takeovers of service companies tied to the petroleum sector. An ICSID tribunal finds Venezuela unlawfully expropriated ConocoPhillips’ investments (Hamaca, Petrozuata, Corocoro projects). Nicolás Maduro, who replaced Chavez in 2013, was also a far left socialists, and socialism always spawns inefficiency, less productivity, and thus poverty.
In 2014 an international arbitration panel ordered Venezuela to pay ExxonMobil ~$1.6 billion over compensation disputes from asset nationalization. In 2018 ConocoPhillips secures $2 Billion ICC award and the following year with another major arbitration awards: tribunals ruled Venezuela must pay roughly $8.7 billion (and related awards) for expropriated interests in Petrozuata, Hamaca, and Corocoro projects. Enforcement of these awards has been slow, frustrating, and almost impossible.
International arbitration awards mean companies have a legal right to compensation under treaties. These are corporate claims, not sovereign claims. When the government took over the industry they denied sovereignty claims thus there existed no way to make their government corporations pay for the property confiscated. Yes, nation states control their own natural resources but who is going to make them pay their debts for tools to extract the resources? Mostly Venezuela paid only partial amounts and constantly delayed payments. Venezuela lost every arbitration award made against it.
America is in Venezuela for several reasons. But can we understand why an American armada is presently one of them? “Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us,” it remains, and why Trump, a businessman, could call it theft.
GRAPH
Arbitration Awards vs. Payments Received (Approximate)USD Billions
10 |█████████████████████████ ConocoPhillips (ICSID 2019) $8.7B
9 |████████████████████████
8 |
7 |
6 |
5 |
4 |█████ ExxonMobil (ICSID 2014) $1.6B
3 |
2 |██ ConocoPhillips (ICC 2018) $2.0B
1 |
0 |█ Payments Actually Received ~$0.25–0.5B
——————————————————
Award Amount Paid to Date
Interpretation
Total major awards: ≈ $12–13B
Payments confirmed: < $1B
Outstanding balance: ~90%+ unpaid
This visualization is often used by creditors, courts, and sovereign-risk analysts to demonstrate persistent non-compliance rather than temporary delay.
Dr. Harold Pease is an expert on the United States Constitution and a syndicated columnist on current events. Read his weekly columns at www.LibertyUnderFire.org Column #854 Help preserve our Republic while we still can by sharing this column.