The Texas-based oil giant Chevron issued a statement Saturday vowing to work “constructively” with the Trump administration to support a “peaceful” transition of power following the U.S. attack on the South American nation and capturing of its president.
Chevron has maintained a presence in Venezuela for more than 100 years, and according to its statement, signaled a readiness to work in tandem with the Trump administration, which is set to run the government of Venezuela until a transition of power can be facilitated.
“With more than a century in Venezuela, we support a peaceful, lawful transition that promotes stability and economic recovery,” reads the statement from Chevron, the Houston Chronicle reported Saturday. “We’re prepared to work constructively with the U.S. Government during this period, leveraging our experience and presence to strengthen U.S. energy security.”
Chevron first established its presence in Venezuela in 1923 under the rulership of dictator Juan Vicente Gomez, who opened up Venezuela to foreign oil companies and subsequently secured strong support from the United States.
Chevron and other oil giants’ had largely unchallenged control over Venezuela’s oil reserves until the early 1940s after the government, under the leadership of Venezuelan President Eleazar Lopez Contreras, enacted the Hydrocarbons Law, which required oil companies to split their profits with the Venezuelan government.
Today, Venezuela has the single-largest proven oil reserves on earth, and a number of Republican figures, lawmakers, and even President Donald Trump himself have acknowledged that U.S. military threats against the country were motivated – at least in part – by its vast natural resources, and despite the Trump administration’s stated justification of combating drug trafficking.
The United States has enacted or sought to enact regime change countless times in South America over natural resources, perhaps most famously in 1973 when a U.S.-backed coup overthrew its democratically elected leader at the behest of American mining and communication companies that had been stripped of their control of Chile’s resources.
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