I am not surprised the Venezuelan president wants to sell oil. The devastation to her country of the latest earthquakes brought on by the climate crisis and isostatic rebound needs a great deal of new investment.
Currently, the governing laws of Venezuela does not really encourage outside investment. The natural resources of Venezuela belong to the people.
I am concerned about the exploitation of the Venezuelan people by Trump. He can't simply order up the country to allow American drilling companies access and expect things to go well. The oil companies are fully aware of trying to drill in countries with unrest and terrorists.
Some time ago when American oil companies moved into Nigeria will all sorts of reassurances, the people rebelled and attacked the drillers. The side effect was average citizens extracting oil themselves regardless of the poison exposure of their plans to their personal health.
That paradigm, by the way, is the method resulting in a two class system in an impoverished country. The people in power that provided reassurances to American companies then have to control the rebellious people and sends in the military to control the people. The people of Nigeria never had a power struggle before the American oil companies showed up. Their arrival causing all sorts of environmental damage to their local economies and food sources resulted in militias among the people to stop them. The militias wanted to kill the people doing the drilling.
The Trump administration is delusional. It comes from taking orders from a dictator-coward that does nothing but sit behind a desk overseeing the demolition of the White House lands and buildings, including the fact it is a museum. Paperwork is not the do all and end all to wonderful plans imagined by the dictator-coward. Nor is sending in the troops much of an answer. People, when acting in mass can defeat the inhuman plans handed down to American soldiers. That is a proven fact. No American soldier wants to be convicted of genocide or crimes against humanity. No presidential pardon gets them off the hook.
So, while Venezuela wants to have wells pumping crude out of the ground and spewing methane without containment and depositing sulfur in every water in the region, that doesn't mean it can or will be done. Drilling is expensive. If doing so results in greater problems for the company rather than the status quo, it won't happen.
And don't try to mask the subsidies petroleum companies receive in tax breaks and credits. The American people continue to support these companies and Trump has no right to say otherwise.
So, as to Venezuelan petroleum:
- is the oil being paid for by ` the oil companies to the Venezuelan people? How do Americans know the revenue to Venezuela will be used for the people? There are still terrorists in Venezuela. What percentage of the revenue and/or oil will be intercepted and used by terrorist networks still in Venezuela?
` what environmental laws will the companies use to drill? None? That in and of itself increases the carbon footprint for the people using it at a gas station.
` where is the oil going? Just because American companies will be drilling doesn't mean the petroleum product is destined for American refineries.
`there can be no violence against the Venezuelan people in this venture. None of the monies can be used to pay for the Maduros lawyers.
The Venezuelan president needs to hand any and all income to the Hague to establish a trust fund that will directly benefit the people of Venezuela and it's revitalization. The revenues must be handled properly and out of the reach of corruption that is known to exist with Trump.
Nigeria was not an isolated incident. Ask the people of Equator.
