U.S. poised to strike military targets in Venezuela

[SnakeBoy]

lol plunder

[ChumpDumper]

lol snacks didn't dispute anything

[Winehole23]

he's barely articulate

[Yonivore]

,

[ChumpDumper]

Why would oil companies compete with their own heavy crude operations they spent half a billion on in Canada?

[Blake]

It's been a fucking week, Winehole. Jeeze...

Yeah and still nothing.

How the fuck did these morons not think of a complete plan of what to do before invading? This is why it would have been great to get Congress' opinion on it.

[Blake]

It's been a fucking week, Winehole. Jeeze...

Yeah and still nothing.

How the fuck did these morons not think of a complete plan of what to do before invading? This is one reason why it would have been great to get Congress' opinion on it.

[ChumpDumper]

I'm having trouble finding a video of his complete remarks so, I grabbed them from Exxon Mobil's website...



Key Points from Woods’s Full Remarks

✔ He clearly states Venezuela is “uninvestable” today under current legal and commercial conditions.
✔ He explains Exxon’s long-term investment philosophy and what it would take to consider re-entry.
✔ He notes that Exxon is prepared to send a technical team to assess assets if certain security and legal conditions are met.
✔ His message is cautiously optimistic about opportunity, not dismissive — contingent on changes, not a flat rejection.

:lmao dumbass

2010525524167417940

https://x.com/Acyn/status/2010525524167417940

[Winehole23]

Darren Woods didn't suck Trump's d!ck right, so Exxon is out

lol Yonivore's backflipping


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bbp2b224lro3bfnzcqwwnkfo/bafkreiem6nx65dohc5eoh4gzblwl2g3oo522atu2r2iif4o5u q54dsrszi@jpeg

[Yonivore]

Darren Woods didn't suck Trump's d!ck right, so he's out

lol Yonivore's backflipping


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bbp2b224lro3bfnzcqwwnkfo/bafkreiem6nx65dohc5eoh4gzblwl2g3oo522atu2r2iif4o5u q54dsrszi@jpeg

We'll see Mr. Conclusion Jumper. There are other companies. I suspect Exxon will eventually want in.

[Blake]

https://i.imgur.com/fEDNtOn.png

Dumb libs actually believe this is what's happening?

Great post, snakes.

[ChumpDumper]

We'll see Mr. Conclusion Jumper.
That's Trump's conclusion.:lol

There are other companies. I suspect Exxon will eventually want in.
If you can explain, in your own words, why Exxon would want to compete against its own multi-billion dollar heavy oil operations in Canada and Illinois, we're all ears.

[Blake]

"....Most of the large international oil majors present in the White House meeting have a long history in Venezuela, meaning they have all had their fingers burned. Two waves of oil industry nationalisation in the 1970s and 2000s forced many of them to hastily withdraw from the country, leaving behind huge losses they have yet to recoup.

"Oilfield service providers could be reluctant to commit resources in Venezuela because they’re still owed massive amount of money. So Venezuela should commit to pay oilfield service providers that debt as a way to have them in back," Welligence’s Bellorin said.
But Trump appears to be suggesting the opposite...."

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/big-oil-offers-reality-check-trumps-venezuela-dream-2026-01-12/

[Blake]

I could see Billy Bob Thornton heading there I guess for a smaller firm desperate to take a gamble

[Winehole23]

Increased availability of Venezuelan crude is, however, likely to take a toll on demand for Canadian crude, Mexican Maya, and Middle Eastern grades. The U.S. still buys 80% of Canada’s crude output, despite the recent TMX expansion improving access to Asia. This helps to keep WCS (Western Canadian Select) prices (https://oilprice.com/oil-price-charts/#prices) tied to U.S. refinery demand and alternative heavy grades. On the other hand, more Venezuelan flows are likely to benefit Mid-continent and West Coast refiners, including British Petroleum (NYSE:BP) and HF Sinclair (NYSE:DINO), thanks to greater WCS discounts if Gulf Coast demand is displaced.


That said, Venezuela’s low-hanging fruit is rather limited: According to Norwegian energy consultancy Rystad Energy, only 300-350 kbpd can be quickly restored with minimal spending from the current clip of 800,000 bpd-1 million bpd, with production beyond 1.4 mbpd requiring heavy, sustained investment.


Rystad estimates that Venezuela will require $53 billion over the next 15 years just to keep production flat at 1.1 mbpd, but could need up to $183 billion over the same period to ramp up production to over 3 million bpd, roughly equivalent to the entire North American land capex for one year.
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Venezuelan-Oil-and-the-Limits-of-US-Refining-Capacity.html

[Winehole23]

According to Kayrros, numerous oil storage tanks at the Bajo Grande and Puerto Miranda terminals are out of order due to corrosion and a lack of maintenance. But this is an industrywide problem: Kayrros estimates that roughly a third of Venezuela’s storage capacity is currently inactive, reflecting unusable storage tanks, reduced refinery operating rates, and declining oil production. Meanwhile, operations at the large interconnected Amuay and Cardón refineries are running below 20% of capacity, essentially turning them into “de facto storage centres” according to the experts.

Not surprisingly, Venezuela’s pipeline network is in a similar state of disrepair: A leaked document from PDVSA in 2021 revealed that the country’s oil pipelines had not been updated in 50 years, with Venezuela’s National Oil Company estimating it would take a staggering $58 billion to get them back in peak condition. Recent estimates have placed the figure in excess of $100 billion (https://www.ft.com/content/b6d029d3-51cd-4cb5-9173-c24bae327daf). Venezuela’s operational oil pipeline network has a total length of 2,139 miles (approximately 3,442 kilometers). For some perspective, the UAE, which produces approximately 3.2 million bpd, has ~9,000 km of oil pipeline.

[ChumpDumper]

I kind of suspect Trump Oil is going to come into existence sometime soon.

[Blake]

I kind of suspect Trump Oil is going to come into existence sometime soon.

Which will inevitably need a government bailout. Or huge govt contract or something.

[Winehole23]

this is not lawful, this is piratical

lol "at least some of the revenue"



https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:rogqxhzq6vy54nbuy4n6rwyd/bafkreic3nfc3ljyum7zu2fw3czm2t33fredqmixszc7mdwx5e nfc53oxmq@jpeghttps://www.semafor.com/article/01/14/2026/us-gets-first-500-million-venezuelan-oil-deal-holding-some-proceeds-in-qatar

[ChumpDumper]

:lmao "neutral"

[Millennial_Messiah]

You gonna enlist?

Too old for anything except the air force reserve. I can't swim so I can't even join the navy.


But in the wake of these ICE riots, this sentiment holds even more true, if we had these idiots actually in military uniform instead of trying to fight our own government's efforts to remove third world moochers and criminals from our country, then we would have a much more unified country, like with WW2 and even early stage Iraq/Afghanistan.

[Winehole23]

that's Nazi talk, tbh

[Millennial_Messiah]

Iran, Venezuela, let's get 'em both. Re-establish them as allies and opec friendlies to compete with the Saudi's etc. The Saudi vs Iran hate is not about religion i.e. Sunni vs Shia, it's about oil supremacy 100%. Encourage free and fair competition. End the tariffs, bring back free trade.


Let's imagine we took every single one of those draft age eligible "no kings" and anti-ICE rioters, most of which are unemployed living with family anyway, and drafted them to maintain Iran and Venezuela. We would have near zero domestic conflict like the crap we've seen in Minnesota and Portland and other places recently, and we would have a very strong peace through strength, American exceptionalist foreign policy that would reign over the world. And ICE would be free to actually do their job of rounding up, seizing, and deporting all of the illegals, ending migrant crime.

Everyone unemployed (and not actively in fulltime higher education) under 30 should be draft eligible. That would solve a lot of the black-on-black crime in the big urban cities as well.

[Winehole23]

^^^ cooked

[Millennial_Messiah]

I really hope Rubio and not Vance is the next GOP nominee. Rubio is most similar to Bush and Reagan and life was best and least polarized when they were President.

Contrary to leftist popular belief, Obama and not Trump was the starting point of the divisive polarization era. BLM started in the early 2010s, not late 2010s, "my son would have looked JUST like Trayvon", etc. Obama was Divider-In-Chief and Trump has just been the opposite inverse. It's time to return to an era before 2008.

[Millennial_Messiah]

that's Nazi talk, tbh

There's nothing wrong with banning third world immigration and being against freeloaders. It's not like I'm advocating for genocide or something.

[Winehole23]

yes it is

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:ixm3sb7fcy7u6tnxhkrvo32u/bafkreicn2co5c7kdy76dnaibhcubh4eqqeycfyt5t2tkg62mf 57fir6qlq@jpeg

[Blake]

There's nothing wrong with banning third world immigration and being against freeloaders. It's not like I'm advocating for genocide or something.

Nobody is "for" free loaders

[Blake]

I really hope Rubio and not Vance is the next GOP nominee. Rubio is most similar to Bush and Reagan and life was best and least polarized when they were President.

Contrary to leftist popular belief, Obama and not Trump was the starting point of the divisive polarization era. BLM started in the early 2010s, not late 2010s, "my son would have looked JUST like Trayvon", etc. Obama was Divider-In-Chief and Trump has just been the opposite inverse. It's time to return to an era before 2008.

Rubio is a weasly piece of shit. No way he beats Vance in any way.

[Blake]

Iran, Venezuela, let's get 'em both. Re-establish them as allies and opec friendlies to compete with the Saudi's etc. The Saudi vs Iran hate is not about religion i.e. Sunni vs Shia, it's about oil supremacy 100%. Encourage free and fair competition. End the tariffs, bring back free trade.


Let's imagine we took every single one of those draft age eligible "no kings" and anti-ICE rioters, most of which are unemployed living with family anyway, and drafted them to maintain Iran and Venezuela. We would have near zero domestic conflict like the crap we've seen in Minnesota and Portland and other places recently, and we would have a very strong peace through strength, American exceptionalist foreign policy that would reign over the world. And ICE would be free to actually do their job of rounding up, seizing, and deporting all of the illegals, ending migrant crime.

Everyone unemployed (and not actively in fulltime higher education) under 30 should be draft eligible. That would solve a lot of the black-on-black crime in the big urban cities as well.

You're a weird dumb dude

[Winehole23]

Current events sound insane when straightforwardly described


Trump invaded Venezuela, kidnapped its president, stole a bunch of its oil, sold it, and stashed the money in banks in Qatar

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qeytqxxpoezegc3vlsjvq3vm/bafkreic2skbm2ehtcop4uadfm3rnoswvl5dbrvfirdae6das2 7m4c4ghey@jpeg

[Winehole23]

Rand Paul: "To say it's not a war in Venezuela -- we still have hundreds of ships with a 100% blockade of the coast. That is an act of war. It's an ongoing war. To continue to take their oil -- ongoing war."

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4lx6nur5wstwoc4wtgj56kyu/bafkreidsbua7z5r2pqbmepqqfwhfoac4xuconta76hccpfiyw 23pjaeyee@jpeg

[ChumpDumper]

Trumptards don't care about the Constitution.

[Winehole23]

obviously not, except for a few weirdos

[Winehole23]

in a word, imperialism

(from the 2026 National Defense Strategy)



https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:hbpefio3f5csc44msmbgioxz/bafkreih4hwjsxuzifqobtohvz3hlq7e5pgaesj4hru5qtmkb2 c3vmpkcra@jpeg

[Winehole23]

Word Counts:

Homeland: 27
China: 23
Iran: 13
Border: 11
Israel: 10Monroe Doctrine: 5
Greenland: 5
illegal aliens/migration: 5

Ukraine: 4
Taiwan: 0

https://media.defense.gov/2026/Jan/23/2003864773/-1/-1/0/2026-NATIONAL-DEFENSE-STRATEGY.PDF

[Winehole23]

definition is a b!tch, most of Venezuela's oil is not economically recoverable at current prices



The foundation of Venezuela’s reserve claim lies in the Orinoco Oil Belt, a vast region containing extra-heavy crude and bitumen-like hydrocarbons. The oil is unquestionably real and enormous in scale. U.S. Geological Survey estimates (https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2009/3028/pdf/FS09-3028.pdf) suggest more than one trillion barrels of oil in place.

But oil in place is not the same thing as oil that can be economically produced, transported, refined, and sold. It bears little resemblance to the light, free-flowing crude produced in places like Saudi Arabia or West Texas. In practical terms, it is far closer to Canada’s oil sands.

Orinoco crude must first be mined or thermally produced, then upgraded into a synthetic crude before it can reach global markets. That makes production capital-intensive, technologically complex, and highly sensitive to oil prices.
For decades, most of this oil was classified not as reserves, but as resources—hydrocarbons known to exist but not considered economically recoverable.

In the early 2000s, Venezuela’s proven oil reserves were far more modest by global standards. Around 2005, official estimates placed the country’s reserves (https://www.apolloacademy.com/venezuelas-self-reported-oil-reserves/#:~:text=Venezuela's%20self%2Dreported%20crude%20o il,see%20the%20first%20chart%20below.) at roughly 77 to 80 billion barrels, consisting primarily of conventional crude. That figure put Venezuela well behind Saudi Arabia and several other major producers. For context, today an 80-billion-barrel reserve base would rank eighth in the world.Under OPEC guidelines and U.S. SEC reporting rules, a barrel of oil only qualifies as a proven reserve if it can be economically recovered at prevailing oil prices using existing technology. That definition is more economic than geological—and it is central to what happened next.

At the time, oil prices averaged around $25 per barrel. At those levels, the cost of extracting and upgrading Orinoco crude exceeded the value of the finished product. The oil was physically present, but economically stranded.https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Only-a-Fraction-of-Venezuelas-Oil-Is-Economically-Recoverable.html

[Winehole23]

That changed as oil prices surged. By 2008, crude prices were approaching $140 per barrel. As oil prices rose, projects that had once been marginal suddenly appeared economic—at least on paper.


With higher prices and improving extraction technology, Venezuela’s national oil company, PDVSA, was able to reclassify large portions of the Orinoco from “resources” into “proven reserves” under prevailing reserve definitions. This process was formalized through a government initiative known as the Magna Reserva Project (https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/1844/), launched under Hugo Chávez to certify oil “in place” across the Orinoco Belt.


Between 2005 and 2011, Venezuela’s reported reserves nearly quadrupled—from under 80 billion barrels to nearly 300 billion—without a corresponding surge in discoveries or production. The transformation was largely statistical, not physical.


But independent estimates highlight the gap between headline reserve numbers and economic reality.Rystad Energy (https://thedeepdive.ca/does-venezuela-really-have-300-billion-barrels-of-oil/), for example, estimates Venezuela’s economically recoverable oil at roughly 29 billion barrels — about one-tenth of the official total. That estimate reflects realistic assumptions about production costs, infrastructure requirements, and oil prices.

[Winehole23]

RUBIO SAYS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS PREPARED TO USE MILITARY FORCE IF NEEDED TO FORCE VENEZUELA’S ACTING LEADER DELCY RODRÍGUEZ TO COOPERATE WITH THE U.S., INCLUDING OPENING THE OIL SECTOR TO AMERICAN COMPANIES, AS WASHINGTON STEPS UP NAVAL DEPLOYMENTS AND OIL SHIPMENTare we not in charge there already?

[ChumpDumper]

:lol the oil companies don't want that shitty oil.

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:545g5dlrsaccyfkjcdngtp5a/bafkreiamq477swjfuufb7lv5s4h3v55undmizx43fnymmk2jv qpo6roo7y@jpeg

[Winehole23]

RAND PAUL: If a country bombed our air defense missiles, captured & removed our president, & blockaded our country, would that be considered an act of war?

RUBIO: We just don't believe this operation comes anywhere close to the constitutional definition

PAUL: Of course it would be an act of war!https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mdioylsivi22

[Winehole23]

knock-on: the US blockading Cuba

if no deal is done, hello Mariel Boatlift 2.0


Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has said that his government is in talks with the Trump administration to find solutions to the two countries' differences, as the Caribbean country continues to face the effects of a US oil blockade.

Díaz-Canel said no fuel had entered Cuba in three months.

Talks between the two nations were in their initial stages, said Díaz-Canel, who is leading the Cuban side of negotiations, in a national broadcast on Friday.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Cuba was in "deep trouble" as he threatened a "friendly takeover".

Cuba is experiencing several blackouts (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2ggpq1742o) as the island struggles with fuel shortages, which have been made worse by pressure from the US.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has made clear his desire to change Cuba's leadership. He has also threatened tariffs on goods imported into the US from any country that gives Cuba oil.

The White House told the BBC on Friday that: "As the president stated, we are talking to Cuba, whose leaders should make a deal, which he believes 'would be very easily made'".

Havana relies heavily on imported fuel for its electricity and the US has seized a number of oil shipments bound for Cuba.

Venezuela was believed to have sent around 35,000 barrels of oil a day to Cuba, providing about half the island's oil needs. But Washington's Venezuela raid - and capture of President Nicolás Maduro - in early January has disrupted the arrangement.

In his national broadcast, Díaz-Canel said that not having fuel enter Cuba for the past three months has led to the gradual decline of diesel and fuel oil reserves. Given this, the country's electrical grid has become increasingly "unstable", he said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy8zv9gp0go

[Winehole23]

Sending Rubio to install the Castros to run the US protectorate in Cuba wasn't on my 2026 bingo card


The Trump administration is seeking to oust the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in its talks with Cuban political leaders. It plans to allow the Castro family to keep power if they agree to economic changes, creating a client state for the US.https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/world/americas/trump-cuba-president-diaz-canel.html?unlocked_article_code=1.TlA.Ygf9.a5SMOw YKG0cM

[Winehole23]

btw, the US blockade that's forcing Cuba to the table has been barbaric and inhumane

no shipments of oil have landed in Cuba in weeks, and today Cuba's grid collapsed

https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/16/americas/cuba-power-grid-collapse-intl-latam

[Winehole23]

the US energy blockade of Cuba is catastrophic


Without oil, there’s no electricity to pump water much less treat it. How are 10 million people suddenly expected to forage for water — or wood to boil it? Or food — which can no longer be refrigerated? The humanitarian disaster is here and Donald Trump caused it. This is insane.

[Winehole23]

In Iran, US attacks have resulted in IRGC consolidating power and exercising de facto control of Hormuz

In Venezeula, hardliners are also consolidating power after US armed forces abducted Maduro, propelling Delcy Rodriguez to power


For a decade, Gustavo González López oversaw Venezuela’s torture dungeons and spy networks. His secret police became a cudgel for strongman Nicolás Maduro. Opponents were disappeared, protesters rounded up and González was sanctioned by the US, EU and UK.Now, the US-backed interim president Delcy Rodríguez has promoted the baby-faced 65-year-old to defence minister, as she seeks to shore up power.

The move, analysts say, encapsulates the changes to Venezuela’s government since the US whisked Maduro to a Brooklyn jail in January: the same brutal regime, with faces that are friendlier to Washington.“He signals the continuation of the repressive dictatorship we have been living through. It’s a step in the wrong direction . . . he’s been the chief torturer in charge of political oppression,” said Ricardo Hausmann, a Venezuelan former minister in the 1990s and now a professor at Harvard.

González was central to quashing protests that broke out in 2014, 2017 and 2019. Hundreds were locked up in prisons such as El Helicoide, an unfinished shopping centre repurposed into the country’s most notorious torture chamber. Another jail, nicknamed “the tomb”, was expanded in the basement of the intelligence agency Sebin’s headquarters in central Caracas.as.ft.com/r/d091e3ec-f... (https://as.ft.com/r/d091e3ec-fa78-44e2-baa8-24601bda0490)

[Winehole23]

wild

tribute for the boss?


U.S. INTERIOR SECRETARY BURGUM SAYS HE BROUGHT BACK $100 MILLION WORTH OF PHYSICAL GOLD FROM HIS VISIT TO VENEZUELA

[Winehole23]

ah, here's a cite


The U.S. issued a license Friday that authorizes dealings with Minerven, Venezuela’s state-owned gold mining company, in the latest sign of the Trump administration’s intent to exercise more control over that country’s natural resources.


The license was issued after U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum met in Venezuela with acting President Delcy Rodríguez this week, as well as with representatives of more than two dozen U.S. mining and minerals companies. Many of them previously operated in Venezuela.


Burgum said Venezuela’s government gave security assurances to mining companies interested in investing in the country, where mineral-rich areas have long been controlled by guerrilla members, gangs and other illegal groups.
Under the license, people and companies from Russia, Iran, North Korea and Cuba are not authorized to engage in any contracts with Minerven
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/international/2026/03/06/us-issues-a-license-that-authorizes-sales-of-venezuelan-gold/

[Winehole23]

Trump in his benevolence and mercy has allowed one Russian oil tanker to break the US embargo that sparked a still unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Cuba

[Winehole23]

I guess Trump would like to avoid a Mariel II type scene while they're fighting an intensely destructive war of choice in the middle east

[Winehole23]

Marco Rubio soliciting the Castros to run the prospective US satrapy in Cuba is a thing


U.S. State Dept officials met last Friday in Havana with their Cuban counterparts —including Raulito “El Cangrejo” Castro, the grandson of Raul Castro.https://www.axios.com/2026/04/17/cuba-negotiations-trump-havana-castro

[Winehole23]

a blockade is a per se act of war

blockading energy is a per se humanitarian atrocity

what did Cuba do to the USA to deserve all this?


Senate Republicans on Tuesday killed a Democratic resolution that would have required President Trump to get Congress’s approval to keep blockading Cuba

[velik_m]

As the U.S. starves it of oil, Cuba is pulling off one of the fastest solar revolutions on the planet — with China’s help

Cuba is struggling with devastating nationwide blackouts as the United States’ effective oil blockade strangles fuel supplies. But this crisis may also be accelerating a China-backed clean energy revolution that’s been quietly unfolding in the Caribbean nation.

Cuba is currently pulling off one of the fastest solar revolutions on the planet, with help from China, according to data from the energy think tank Ember. Imports of Chinese solar panels and batteries have soared over the past year and, with Chinese investment, Cuba has built dozens of solar parks.

The country is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels, but some experts believe the intense U.S. pressure — with threats to take “control” of the island — may hasten Cuba’s path toward clean energy. More renewables mean less dependence on fuel imports, helping “remove this lever of coercion,” said Kevin Cashman, an economist with the Transition Security Project, a U.S.-U.K. research organization.

...

A big part of the country’s clean energy push is an agreement with China to open 92 solar parks across the country by 2028, projected to bring a total of 2 gigawatts of solar power online, enough to power more than 1.5 million homes.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel opened the first in February 2025 and there are now around 50 online, dotted across the island. Cuba has installed around 1 gigawatt of solar in the last 12 months alone, Graham said, “that does actually make a pretty meaningful dent in the in the power mix of a country the size of Cuba.”

Renewable energy now makes up roughly 10% of Cuba’s electricity, up from around 3% in 2024. “It’s a really, really rapid boom,” Graham said. The country has pledged that figure will rise to at least 24% by 2030.

The benefits of solar for Cuba are clear. Costs of clean technology have plummeted in recent years and solar is relatively fast to install, Graham said. The infrastructure lasts decades and, once set up, needs only sunshine.

There’s a benefit for China, too, which goes beyond financial, said Jorge Piñon, a senior research collaborator at the University of Texas’s Energy Institute. It will “build goodwill, not only goodwill within Cuba but goodwill with the rest of Latin America,” Piñon said.

...


https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/as-the-us-starves-it-of-oil-cuba-is-pulling-off-one-of-the-fastest-solar-revolutions-on-the-planet-with-chinas-help/

[Blake]

a blockade is a per se act of war

blockading energy is a per se humanitarian atrocity

what did Cuba do to the USA to deserve all this?

Conspiracy theorist in me says just more collateral damage from Trump saying "look over here" instead of at the Epstein files.

That's all I can come up with for all this crazy shit he's coming up with

[Winehole23]

the US has no good reason for doing this to Cuba

definite fodder for Nuremberg 2.0


Senior UN officials warned Friday of a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Cuba, urging immediate delivery of life-saving aid as power outages strain hospitals and health facilities across the island.


"My call is simple: life-saving aid must reach people quickly and without delays," Edem Wosornu, director of the Crisis Response Division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters virtually following a mission to Cuba.


"The longer it takes, the weaker and the stronger the vulnerability gets."


"Acting fast and working together is the only way to stop the situation from getting worse. We can't afford another humanitarian crisis. We already have a stretched humanitarian situation on the ground across all sectors," she added.


Altaf Musani, director of emergency health interventions at the World Health Organization (WHO), said neonatal care is among the most vulnerable sectors, and that life-saving equipment depends on a stable power supply that is not currently being sustained.
"Power outages are forcing health facilities to reduce vital services, prioritize urgent care, and limit diagnostic and surgical operations," he said, adding that health care workers and parents alike are being forced to make "impossible choices."


Cuba is facing a fuel crisis amid a US oil embargo imposed on Jan. 30, along with widespread power outages.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/life-saving-aid-must-reach-cuba-quickly-and-without-delays-un-warns-amid-us-blockade/3938997

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:f5z4p6xjqr6tkn2dcb5ubtsn/bafkreiewwwbpb5k6uzztselxq42hcm77fztf7f6agngnlwphx t3wmp6eve

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nb6uhiglzowsdcbgwv2itwa7/bafkreifdter6vgplqm2nfjdldenhi2qplggphaeebdyiieb2u ou3bg3pim

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nyjm4ylfid2a7mjm6varxuiq/bafkreigvv4o2gqvrqoxjbk3luqkjuhiszovtlf55pyylvkfks 3tphvoquq

[Blake]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nb6uhiglzowsdcbgwv2itwa7/bafkreifdter6vgplqm2nfjdldenhi2qplggphaeebdyiieb2u ou3bg3pim

Yeah but January 6...

[velik_m]

AP Exclusive: Trump administration tells prosecutors to stand down on Venezuela leader, sources say

MIAMI (AP) — The Trump administration has quietly instructed federal prosecutors in Miami to avoid pursuing criminal investigations into Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, a longtime target of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to current and former U.S. law enforcement officials, in the latest sign of warming relations between the White House and the oil-rich nation.

It’s unclear whether prosecutors had implicated Rodríguez in any crimes or whether investigators were moving toward an indictment. A Justice Department spokesperson said in an email “there was never an investigation into her to shut down.”

But DEA records obtained by The Associated Press earlier this year show she consistently surfaced on the radar of federal law enforcement dating to at least 2018, though she has never been criminally charged in the U.S. like several other senior Venezuelan officials.

...



https://apnews.com/article/federal-prosecutors-venezuela-rodriguez-avoid-criminal-investigations-07226dea025e16afcf8ca3e39280fd76

[Winehole23]

this is totally fucked up bullshit


The Pentagon has spent months positioning the troops and weapons needed for the U.S. to launch a military attack on Cuba — all it needs is a final go-ahead from Donald Trump.https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/27/cuba-us-military-attack-00938740

[Winehole23]

Guatemala has agreed to carry out joint strikes with the US military on its territory to target drug trafficking groups, The New York Times reported on Thursday (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/28/world/americas/guatemala-us-joint-strikes.html), as the Trump administration continues escalating its military interventions across Latin America.


The report said that Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo held a call with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth last week and agreed to allow both airstrikes and other military action, and joint military operations could begin next month.


Guatemala has become the second country in the region to allow the US military to take part in its war on drugs, after Ecuador, where US military personnel are advising and assisting Ecuadorian troops. The Times previously reported (https://archive.vn/C3IjE) that one of the first operations involved bombing what the US and Ecuador claimed was a drug camp, but turned out to be a dairy farm.
https://news.antiwar.com/2026/05/28/guatemala-agrees-to-allow-us-airstrikes-on-its-territory-as-us-escalates-military-interventions-in-latin-america/

[Winehole23]

CFR wonders what's happening with the money


Except for a few details shared with Congress and in Executive Order 14373, the Trump administration has provided almost no information on the system it has established to sell Venezuelan oil, collect the revenue, and use the funds. The administration has also not released the written agreements it has entered into with the Venezuelan government, traders, buyers, banks, and other entities involved in the process. Both Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent separately committed to Congress to share a copy of the written agreements governing U.S. control of Venezuelan oil exports, though it is unclear whether those copies were delivered to Congress, and no copies have been made public.





Despite Rubio’s insistence before Congress that commodities trading companies Trafigura and Vitol were a “short-term fix” to quickly sell the first tranche of oil, both companies—each of which has a history of bribery schemes (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/01/29/trump-venezuela-oil-vitol-trafigura-bribes/) related to oil sales—remain involved in Venezuela five months later. A third trader, GE Warren, has since entered the picture, and the Trump administration has offered no explanation for their ongoing role. In mid-April, the State Department witness told Congress that accounting firm KPMG would conduct quarterly audits of how Venezuelan oil revenues are being spent, to include a retrospective audit “from the beginning,” but said he did not know when the reports would be available.



https://www.cfr.org/articles/the-u-s-took-over-venezuelas-oil-industry-where-has-all-the-money-gone

[Winehole23]

In the first four months of the United States exerting control over Venezuela’s oil exports, almost one hundred million barrels of oil worth an estimated $8 billion have flowed through a process marked by no transparency and minimal oversight. While the Trump administration has repeatedly framed this control as benefiting both countries, it has not publicly disclosed how much Venezuelan oil it has sold, how much revenue it has collected, or how it has used those funds since seizing control of the country’s oil exports following the January 3 military intervention that deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Based on tanker-tracking data from Bloomberg and reports on discounts applied to Venezuelan crude, the estimated value of U.S.-controlled oil exports has increased from $600 million in January (about 380,000 barrels per day) to about $3.7 billion in April alone (about 1.1 million barrels per day). The largest recipients of Venezuelan oil since January 3 have been the United States (43 percent), India (26 percent), and Spain (8 percent).

[Winehole23]

The Trump administration has shared some details with Congress. Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RBbx6P4Lho) in January that $300 million had flowed through a “short-term” account in Qatar and been disbursed to Venezuela, while another $200 million was “still sitting” in the account. He indicated the administration would conduct a retroactive audit on the funds that moved through the Qatar account. The following month, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said during a press interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zNmmbnPtYA) that the full $500 million had been transferred to Venezuela and that the administration would use U.S. Treasury accounts going forward.

But the administration has yet to provide a public accounting of the Qatar account, including how the funds were spent or what safeguards were in place to prevent corruption and money laundering. In April, a State Department witness told Congress that the department had authorized the disbursement of about $3 billion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qvI1uxoTIQ&t=30s) to Venezuela, but the witness did not know how much money remained in the U.S. Treasury accounts. It is not clear if the balance in either the Qatar or U.S. Treasury accounts has been shared with Congress.

[Winehole23]

The United States has imposed sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the latest of numerous measures adopted against the communist-led island.

The sanctions, revealed on Thursday on the US Treasury’s website, are part of Washington’s efforts to raise pressure (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/22/us-raises-threat-of-military-action-against-cuba) on Cuba’s leadership. An energy blockade enforced by the US Navy has provoked critical blackouts and food shortages.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/5/us-raises-pressure-on-cuba-as-it-sanctions-president-diaz-canel

[Winehole23]

Washington claims that Cuba’s communist regime threatens US security.

[Winehole23]

will war in Cuba be a counterinsurgency/refugee nightmare, or will it be a cakewalk?

[Winehole23]

ruh-roh


Colombian President Gustavo Petro announces that he does NOT recognize Abelardo de la Espriella's victory because "there was a breach of the electoral software carried out by the State of Israel."

[Winehole23]

Jesse Watters on Cuba: “My banking buddy told me that after we topple Castro, we’re going to be able to buy 100 acres of pristine Cuban coastline for like 50 Gs”

[Winehole23]

7.2 and 7.5

hundreds known dead

where is the US help?


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:v63y3emmbz5dlvzkejca2mcc/bafkreig7qqtkrnuxcl3f2cu27p65hlvcgkatqrtvkgeoextoi kbgbi72mq

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000t7zp/executive

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:s24o3i2gmddihekekk6tu6ac/bafkreigewh25auwv7ahtlrjnamkrqu4gjqzpwb7lv62mox72w tv4qyzyea

[Winehole23]

68,900 people are reported missing in Venezuela.https://abc7.com/post/venezuela-earthquake-death-toll-rises-crucial-window-rescuing-survivors-narrows-deadly-earthquakes/19396632/

[Winehole23]

ongoing US war crime


An islandwide blackout hit Cuba (https://apnews.com/hub/cuba) on Monday as the country’s fuel reserves dwindle and its electric grid continues to crumble.


The blackout in the country of nearly 10 million people was reported by the state-run Electric Union, which said on X that the cause is under investigation. The Ministry of Energy and Mines wrote on X that it has activated protocols to restore electricity.


Fuel has been running out across Cuba since January, when U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs (https://apnews.com/article/oil-cuba-tariffs-trump-mexico-30f1d74a766fee23001684a5bb8079d9) on any country that sells or provides oil to the island, deepening the island’s ongoing economic and financial crisis. Public transportation has largely been halted, and officials have canceled tens of thousands of surgeries.
https://apnews.com/article/cuba-blackout-fuel-shortage-economic-crisis-a169e410e90e5cea6f9dd1dc859d6dd5

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:z6rujpf4u56jfie7aqic2nfg/bafkreic6yojmnvv4xsddfrodqcnmehf5agfxyz7kz6hjipwrt bzbvbsi2m

[Winehole23]

https://www.ft.com/content/0e562e03-106e-4729-83d7-675c27eb8c4d

[Winehole23]

Donroe Doctrine goes live

2084733033924464908

[Winehole23]

one could call it imperialism or neocolonialism, but it's just robbery

2084900005970587746

[Winehole23]

NYT and the Trump administration are insane

The US blockade of Cuba is a grotesque war crime


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ldb6hx3aef2vhrctg2xdepjw/bafkreig4c72lnfafqbieartfg4daoldatb4qnglmnrynhrkf4 jaqft3hzi

[Winehole23]

Trump administration refuses to show their sums


At first, the money went into a mysterious account in Qatar. Rubio told (https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/01/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-before-the-senate-committee-on-foreign-relations-on-u-s-policy-towards-venezuela) Congress on January 28 that there was a "short-term mechanism" for the Venezuelan government to "submit every month a budget of this is what we need funded." A week later, Bessent stammered and refused to answer (https://x.com/RepCasten/status/2019132001018900883?s=20) while Rep. Sean Casten (D–Ill.) asked him what legal authority the Treasury was exercising or what written agreements were in place.

On February 13, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced (https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/13/venezuela-oil-sales-qatar-chris-wright-trump.html) that the Qatari account was being closed after $500 million had passed through it. "Since Venezuela has so many creditors and they owe a lot of money, we had some risk if we put it into a U.S. bank account set up quickly that creditors could freeze that money," he told NBC News. But now the administration was ready to move the money through a Citibank account controlled by the Treasury.

The new Citibank account had slightly more checks and balances, in theory. Both the U.S. State Department and the Venezuelan government announced (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/world/trump-venezuela-oil-deals.html?eafs_enabled=false) in April that they had hired outside auditors, and Rubio told Congress (https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/27/trump-says-us-has-sold-more-than-13-billion-of-venezuela-oil-.html) in June that it would be "an ongoing audit, so it's not a once-a-year audit, it's on every expenditure, every single disbursement is audited." The Venezuelan government also created a website called Transparent Sovereignty (https://www.transparenciasoberana.gob.ve/) to publish oil transactions.

But as far as the public is concerned, it is still a big mystery. The State Department has not published (https://www.cfr.org/articles/the-u-s-took-over-venezuelas-oil-industry-where-has-all-the-money-gone) either the written agreements or the results of the audits. Transparent Sovereignty only lists one transaction, a $300 million fuel oil sale from March 2026. The estimated (https://www.ft.com/content/0e562e03-106e-4729-83d7-675c27eb8c4d?syn-25a6b1a6=1) last month that Venezuela had sold more than $13 billion in oil under the new arrangement. Asked about the report, Trump bragged (https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/27/trump-says-us-has-sold-more-than-13-billion-of-venezuela-oil-.html) that it was "even more than that."

The administration simply hasn't forked over all the information it promised. Despite promising in April to produce quarterly audit reports, the Trump administration hasn't sent (https://www.ft.com/content/0e562e03-106e-4729-83d7-675c27eb8c4d?syn-25a6b1a6=1) anything to Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the the Financial Times rreported on July 22. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee wrote another letter on Wednesday demanding information (https://www.semafor.com/article/08/04/2026/democrats-want-venezuelan-oil-revenue-details). Even hawkish Republicans who supported the operation have started to get uneasy about the lack of transparency on the money.

"We have never seen those [audit] reports…It's been six months. I would like to see two reports, because it's every three months," Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R–Fla.) said (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI0h0h_WKG8) during a July hearing. In response, Assistant Secretary of State Caleb Orr promised to give Congress "appropriate summaries" that would "protect relevant information that's part of our foreign policy." In other words, the fate of that money is a state secret.

https://reason.com/2026/08/07/trump-says-he-took-venezuelas-oil-heres-what-actually-happened/ (https://reason.com/2026/08/07/trump-says-he-took-venezuelas-oil-heres-what-actually-happened/)

[Winehole23]

Venezuela is exporting about half of its oil output to the United States, according to a senior US official, seven months after Washington abducted President Nicolas Maduro and installed an interim government in Caracas.


US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later told the US Congress that the funds from Venezuelan oil sales “will be deposited into an account that we will have oversight over”. He added that Caracas would submit a monthly budget request against the account, with Washington specifying up front what the funds could not be used for.


The Financial Times reported in July that the US has collected more than $13bn in revenue from Venezuelan oil sales this year.


Responding to that report on July 27, Trump said the actual figure was higher.


But his administration has said almost nothing about what has happened to the money.


In April, a State Department official told Congress that the department had authorised the disbursement of about $3bn to Venezuela.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/19/venezuela-oil-exports-surge-with-us-refineries-taking-in-half-of-output

[Winehole23]

The Council on Foreign Relations, an independent think tank, said in June that while the administration has repeatedly framed its control of Venezuelan oil exports as benefitting both countries, “it has not publicly disclosed how much oil it has sold, how much revenue it has collected, or how it has used those funds”. It said the opacity extends to Venezuelan gold and other mineral exports Washington also controls.

The think tank also expressed concern over the Trump administration’s decision to exclude Venezuela’s opposition and civil society from discussions with the interim government in Caracas over the country’s future.

That government is led by Maduro’s vice president, Decly Rodriguez.

“Without accountability mechanisms or a clear democratic roadmap, the United States risks entrenching a corrupt successor regime,” it added.

[velik_m]

Trump announces deal with Venezuela to secure more than 65 billion barrels of oil reserves

The U.S. struck a deal with Venezuela to get majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of oil reserves as the war with Iran roils the global crude trade, President Donald Trump announced Friday.

Trump said in an evening social media post that the agreement — which he touted as “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY” — comes “at no cost to” U.S. taxpayers.

The agreement more than doubles the U.S. oil reserve, according to Trump. Department of Energy data released earlier this month showed oil volumes in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve hit lows not seen since the 1980s.

Trump’s deal with Venezuela follows the U.S.′ January attack on the South American country. Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s then-president, and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured during the strike.

In his social media post, Trump said U.S. officials coordinated with government leaders in Venezuela. They also utilized a “partnership” with unnamed private businesses to secure the deal, he said.

“This Transaction will greatly strengthen the already growing relationship between Venezuela and the United States,” Trump wrote in the post.
...



https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/28/trump-announces-deal-with-venezuela-to-secure-more-than-65-billion-barrels-of-oil-reserves.html

[Winehole23]

The agreement allows for the United States to partner with an unnamed private operator in Venezuela to create a new private company to take hold of the reserves, according to a U.S. official familiar with the contours of the deal.


The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, added that Rodríguez granted the company 100-year rights to develop the oil fields.


The deal gives the United States 55% effective output of the new private company -- including an ownership stake and rights to buy oil at cost. The company would be the second largest corporate holder of proven reserves after Saudi Aramco, according to the official.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-oil-reserves-eb0ed5a1e99602c21a7f690c3368020e

[Winehole23]

a bit pie in the sky

sounds like a great vehicle for corruption




https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:eoss3vmzem55cm5kuddhdmwn/bafkreicvsk5cqprtf4o475rmithjaptkb2ovsadjffy4quqlh jjr6e7jm4

[Winehole23]

•US gov’t owns 55% of joint venture entity; wanted money launderer Alejandro Betancourt’s group controls 45%

•venture has 100-year lease for 17 remote, undeveloped oil reserves

•US pledges investment $$$$

•Venezuelan experts say deal violates VZ constitution, is voidable

[Winehole23]

step 1: entrench a socialist dictator

step 2: steal their oil

[Winehole23]

step 3: imperial quagmire in South America

[ChumpDumper]

"Trump announces deal with Venezuela to secure more than 65 billion barrels of oil reserves"

CROFL still using Maduro's made up reserve numbers.

Also, this kind of deal is what helped radicalize Iran against the US.

Also, socialism good now.

[Winehole23]

"evil communists are supplying Cuba with food and energy -- we must starve them"

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:i2qqm5msmmm7gjijhrtxaraw/bafkreibkfbyg42all5ovyvwmivxa3s6gr7n6bfsurhhcuqhgk txiozbmqa

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:i2qqm5msmmm7gjijhrtxaraw/bafkreihwwrnqayc3mad4sxsyiwjyf6oremzw5v6f52aafbeit 2jezew4nm

[Winehole23]

ruling and opposition parties in Venezuela don't like the deal


While Trump called it the “biggest oil deal in world history”, Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodríguez said it would create investment in the country of more than $100bn.

The two governments have made few details available about how the arrangement would actually work and have yet to explain where the new investment would come from. It is also unclear what role PDVSA, Venezuela’s sanctioned state-owned oil company, would play.

Juan Pablo Guanipá, one of the most prominent members of the opposition who is currently in Venezuela, said that foreign investment was vital to revive the country’s oil industry following years of mismanagement and that the deal had some “potential” to help boost activity.

But, referring to the Rodríguez government, he added that “as long as we have the same people who destroyed the country and PDVSA [the state-owned oil company] handling the money that comes from this agreement, we are building a skyscraper on clay”.

Henrique Capriles, a lawmaker who leads a moderate opposition faction in Venezuela, said there were many doubts about the agreement because of the “opacity and corruption” of the government.

“Those who destroyed PDVSA are the same ones who remain in power and who are not going to rebuild anything,” he said on X. He said the government needed to explain the legal basis for the agreement under the Constitution and what the Venezuelan people were going to receive from it.




On Saturday, leftwing groups took to the streets of Caracas to reject the “guardianship” of Venezuela by the US, with many holding signs saying “Yankees out of Venezuela”.

“They [the US] attacked the Venezuelan homeland on January 3 and today they are trying to subjugate us,” said Fernando Berroterán, a member of the Popular Anti-imperialist Front.Henry Rodríguez, a former member of the ruling United Socialist party, said: “The interim president does not have the right or the legal power to do what she has done.”



Some of the strongest criticisms came from figures associated with the Chavismo political movement, which has been in power in Venezuela since the late revolutionary socialist Hugo Chávez took office in 1999.

Rafael Ramírez, who was president of PDVSA from 2004 to 2014, and energy minister from 2002 to 2014, said that the deal reached with Washington represented “the greatest looting in our country’s history”.“It signals the end of PDVSA,” said Ramírez, who broke with Maduro in 2017 and now lives in Europe. “Now it’ll just be a contract administrator.”https://www.ft.com/content/b3c98ca2-fe67-459d-89ff-4728993110b7?syn-25a6b1a6=1

[Winehole23]

WSJ op-ed page

There are drawbacks to running a low-trust, criminal regime. Eventually, the press calls a duck a duck.



https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:767ycrlfjmddxgnxsylkfbrd/bafkreiahfwp3jw33kho6il7d47fd4ck5cbheabs27l4a5j2qw j2zdzoane

[Winehole23]

technical constraints on topping up the SPR with Venezuelan Orinoco Belt extra-heavy sour crude

it's a political hedge for Iran closing Hormuz again


Scaling production further faces steep investment requirements:

Current level (1.1-1.25 million barrels per day): Already straining existing infrastructure, diluent supply, and power systems. No meaningful surplus for SPR diversion at this output.
2026 target (1.4 million barrels per day): Achievable with continued investment, but still leaves limited margin above export commitments. SPR contributions at this level would be modest at best.
1.5 million barrels per day and beyond: Industry estimates suggest several billion dollars of investment over 12-24 months would be required. Restoring production near 3 million barrels per day, Venezuela’s late-2000s level, could demand on the order of $180 billion over approximately 15 years, according to some industry assessments.

Venezuela’s peak production reached approximately 3.5 million barrels per day in the 1990s. The distance between that figure and today’s output reflects years of mismanagement, underinvestment, infrastructure decay, and sanctions. Closing even part of that gap is a multi-year capital project, not a political announcement.
The production and timeline numbers together tell you that moving “hundreds of millions of barrels” into the SPR from Venezuela is a multi-year project even under optimistic assumptions. The “very shortly” framing describes a political intention, not an operational schedule. The signals worth tracking are DOE tender activity and Venezuelan production trajectory, not the announcement itself.
https://discoveryalert.com/analysis/spr-replenishment-venezuelan-crude-august-2026/

[DMX7]

Many people said American companies would never invest big in Venezuela when Trump captured their leader. Trump proved them wrong.

[Winehole23]

Many people said American companies would never invest big in Venezuela when Trump captured their leader. Trump proved them wrong.wow, that's a really quick turnaround for signed contracts on multi-billion dollar deals that won't pay off for another 10-15 years

which US companies have invested, and how much?

[ChumpDumper]

Many people said American companies would never invest big in Venezuela when Trump captured their leader. Trump proved them wrong.You never said which companies were investing big and how much.

Are you counting the US Army as an American company now?

[Winehole23]

a view from Venezuela




According to the fact sheet (https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/08/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-announces-historic-oil-agreement-to-secure-american-energy-dominance-and-drive-venezuelas-economic-recovery/) published by the White House on August 31, the Office of Strategic Capital of the Pentagon (renamed the Department of War) will own 35% of the shares of the company North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), selected by the Trump administration to lead oil extraction projects in Venezuelan fields with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels.

For the US government, the inclusion of the Department of War in the commercial operation represents “up to hundreds of billions of dollars in value and dividends for the United States.”

The document also outlines the managerial control and the additional benefits obtained with the equity stake deal (https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-oil-venezuela/). At the same time that “the U.S. government has a veto power over the appointment of any member of the board of directors, and a majority of NABEP’s board of directors must be U.S. citizens,” it would obtain “the right of first refusal to purchase the remaining 80% of its production, providing a guaranteed source of energy in our hemisphere in emergency situations,” states the fact sheet.

An exceptional deal and its risks

First of all, there is no immediate precedent for direct Pentagon involvement in the exploration of another country’s oil reserves. To find some kind of analogy, one would have to go back to the distant year of 1943. That year, in the midst of World War II and its high energy demands for the US, the Franklin D. Roosevelt government created the Petroleum Reserves Corporation (https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943v04/d993)(PRC) to acquire fields in Saudi Arabia, which at that time were controlled by large US corporations.

The main players in the operation were the Pentagon and the State Department, just as is the case today with the oil agreement between Washington and Caracas.
The objective was to lease concessions (through the purchase of the majority of the companies’ shares) and use the US government’s financial power to support investments and develop fields, which allowed the US to gain preferential access to extracontinental oil as a complementary support for the war effort.

The idea, however, never came to fruition for various reasons (https://www.usna.edu/NAFAC/_files/round_tables/barsam/Multinational%20Oil%20Corporations%20and%20U.S.%20 Foreign%20Policy.pdf). The companies resisted the government’s purchase of shares, as they saw Roosevelt’s move as an attempt at covert nationalization. The fears that the deal would deteriorate relations with the Saudi crown and serve to consolidate British power in the area also generated friction within the State Department. Ultimately, and although an attempt was made to reduce the possibility of acquiring shares to one-third, the PRC stalled in its declared purpose.

More than 80 years later, the Trump administration has revived Roosevelt’s idea of state capitalism to apply it in Venezuela, trying to overcome the obstacle that his predecessor faced: using Big Oil companies as a vehicle for getting concessions in another country.

Understanding the lesson of 1943, Trump realizes that going after the shares of Chevron, an established corporation with extensive oil operations in Venezuela, would be a fruitless maneuver. But withNABEP (https://www.nabep.net/about-us), an intermediary company led by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-09-02/venezuela-s-new-crop-of-oil-barons-step-up-the-dealmaking?taid=6a98147de39dd9000156c9f7&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_content=business&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter), who is under suspicion of corruption (http://bancaynegocios.com/perfil-alejandro-betancourt-el-polemico-empresario-que-explota-petroleo-venezolano-para-eeuu/)in electricity sector contracts, the US president seemed to find an alternative on which to impose political and financial conditions.

What is not entirely resolved is the legal front, beyond what the White House fact sheet presents as truth.

Analyst Orlando Pérez correctly points out (https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-oil-venezuela/)that oil is excluded from the categories (https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF13215)covered by the Office of Strategic Capital to support loans and investments. Moreover, according to Pérez, “the proposed financial authorization to support the agreement could expire in 2028, unless Congress renews it,” a situation that puts the agreement at extreme legal risk
https://orinocotribune.com/why-pentagon-is-the-central-axis-of-the-us-venezuela-oil-deal/

[Winehole23]

Washington reaffirms to Venezuela that future negotiations on what was agreed today in terms of royalties and taxes can change (always in favor of the US), according to the unilateral geo-strategic and economic needs of the US empire, to the detriment of the projected material benefits for the Venezuelan nation.

Regarding this, the fact sheet states that “NABEP has also granted the U.S. Department of State the right of first refusal to purchase the remaining 80% of its production, providing a guaranteed source of energy in our hemisphere in emergency situations.”

This aspect is not minor. What Trump is trying to say, more or less, is that the agreed-upon clauses can be modified at Washington’s request, with the Pentagon’s not-so-friendly mediation.

[Winehole23]

robbery and graft

https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.G0-sfzGRV-pIRIq_hlco9QHaFj?w=214&h=180&c=7&r=0&o=7&dpr=1.5&pid=1.7&rm=3


CASTEN: Trump said 'we're taking in billions and billions from Venezuela.' Who is the 'we'? That suggests flows to US persons

BESSENT: Again, this is one of the largest assets ever to go on the US balance sheets

CASTEN: You can't testify whether or not they're flowing to US persons?

BESSENT: No

[Winehole23]

So a big part of Iran Contra and one of the (many) reasons it was illegal was that third party funds weren’t deposited into the U.S. Treasury

[Winehole23]

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[Winehole23]

war, famine and rapine


Spanish hotel chains (https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/spanish-hotel-chain-melia-completes-exit-cuba-2026-07-24/). A Canadian mining firm (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-05-15/sherritt-international-ending-operations-in-cuba-after-us-sanctions). European shipping giants (https://t.co/ljaxZMNOFZ). Visa and Mastercard (https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/cuba-suspend-visa-mastercard-transactions-200025731.html). Scores (https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/foreign-businesses-are-fleeing-cuba-as-its-economy-collapses-f9b369bf) of foreign companies have been driven out of Cuba this summer over fear of being hit with potent, new secondary sanctions (https://www.steptoe.com/en/news-publications/stepwise-risk-outlook/us-expands-embargo-on-cuba-as-secondary-sanctions-pose-new-risks-for-foreign-entities1.html). Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, told (https://www.axios.com/2026/08/07/marco-rubio-cuba-pressure-campaign) Axios last month there are “no escape valves” from his unprecedented pressure campaign against the island.

But not everybody is losing out. Agrowing cast of Washington and Florida insiders – from billionaire Trump allies and Rubio-linked lobbyists to Cuban exiles – are jockeying for control of the communist-ruled island-nation’s key assets, charging top dollar to help clients navigate the ever-expanding web of sanctions, and positioning themselves for lucrative business opportunities in the case of regime collapse.
...

A similar approach (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-07/antilles-pitches-us-buyer-plan-for-sanctioned-cuba-gold-mine) is being pursued by Australia’s Antilles Gold Ltd, which after being blacklisted (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/markets/markets-news/Tipranks/3566840/u-s-sanction-halts-antilles-golds-cuban-joint-venture-progress/) over its Cuba operations in June received the green light (https://www.cubatrade.org/blog/2026/8/27/0vctvvlrmitc3kgg13jvrqf2kcsdwd) from the Trump administration to negotiate the transfer (https://mining.com.au/antilles-gold-signs-binding-deal-for-cuban-sanction-relief/) of its stake in a Cuban copper-gold mine to the New York-based, multibillion-dollar investment fund, Global Emerging Markets (https://www.cubatrade.org/blog/2026/8/27/0vctvvlrmitc3kgg13jvrqf2kcsdwd).

“If I had done during the Biden administration what Trump’s friends have done now, I’d have been put in jail,” said a person with several decades of experience in Cuba policy who requested anonymity.

Sources tell the Guardian that several Trump Organization executives who had previously traveled (https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-donald-trump-golf-cuba/) to the island to explore real estate deals and who even registered (https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article245902870.html) the Trump trademark there in 2008 have in recent months returned to Cuba under the aegis of Dominari Holdings (https://www.dominariholdings.com/board-of-advisors) for meetings. The executives are said to have met with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/07/06/castro-grandson-trump-deal-cuba-exclusive/90784545007/) of former Cuban president Raúl Castro, dubbed “the Crab”, to explore opportunities amid the departure (https://forbes.es/en/balearic/985324/melia-barcelo-and-iberostar-withdraw-from-cuba-after-more-than-three-decades-of-setting-the-quality-standard-in-the-countrys-hotel-industry/) of Spanish hotel giants Meliá and Iberostar, which had been operating on the island since the 1990s
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/17/trump-marco-rubio-cuba

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personalist regime rewards cronies and political donors

there's fair to middling chance US will be fighting a war over this eventually




“It’s a milestone deal in making the Western Hemisphere the center of the global energy system,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Wednesday (https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/exxon-is-nearing-a-preliminary-deal-to-invest-in-venezuelas-oil-fields-8c02126b).


He was talking about a fellow Trump ally’s oil deal with Venezuela: oil tycoon Harold Hamm of Continental Resources, a US petroleum and natural gas production company, who announced a preliminary deal (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/continental-resources-signs-memorandum-of-understanding-with-petroleos-de-venezuela-sa-pdvsa-to-operate-and-develop-the-ayacucho-2-block-in-venezuelas-orinoco-belt-302880911.html) with PDVSA, Venezuela’s national oil company, that same day. The agreement, which allows Continental Resources to develop and operate 126,000 acres of oil fields—an estimated 30 billion barrels of oil—was presented by Hamm, with Wright beside him, at this week’s G20 energy summit (https://www.fox26houston.com/news/g20-energy-summit-wraps-up-houston-push-lower-costs-regional-power-solutions) in Houston.


Hamm is in Trump’s inner circle and has advised the president (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/business/energy-environment/trump-harold-hamm-oil-gas.html) on energy issues to benefit his business ventures, including fracking, and personally contributed $4.3 million (https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/harold-hamm-trump-billionaires-and-the-admin/) to Trump-aligned PACs for his 2024 election campaign.


The deal comes after Chevron became the first known major US oil company earlier this month to expand production in Venezuela since the Trump administration seized President Nicolás Maduro in January, investing $7 billion (https://www.chevron.com/newsroom/2026/q3/chevron-expands-position-in-venezuela) over five years to more than double its production to 600,000 barrels a day. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/09/trump-venezuela-chevron-exxonmobil-continental-oil-deal/

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[Winehole23]

Cuba invasion on deck


The U.S. Army Reserve is examining whether it can provide the military's Southern Command with police forces, medical personnel and other support units within the next four months, according to an internal Army message reviewed by CBS News. www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-gro...

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Army Reserve headquarters is seeking feedback from subordinate commands on the possible availability of six types of formations that would fall under the authority of U.S. Southern Command. The units would 'possibly [be] needed in 90-120 days