Clickbait Disguised as Foreign Policy
The Hill’s Venezuela op-ed isn’t analysis — it’s the same tired “Trump wants resources” cartoon dressed up as foreign policy.
Venezuela does have oil and minerals. That’s not news. What is news — and what the article deliberately sidesteps — is that Venezuela is a failed narco-state, not a functioning resource economy. Its mining regions are controlled by armed gangs, cartel networks, and corrupt military elites. There is no rule of law, no stable infrastructure, and no viable way for U.S. industry to extract anything without first dismantling the criminal regime running the country.
If Trump wanted cheap oil or minerals, he’d cut quiet deals with Maduro. Instead, he sanctioned the regime, seized tankers, designated narcotics networks, and applied pressure that made profits harder, not easier. That alone demolishes the “resource grab” fantasy.
The real issue isn’t minerals — it’s national security. Maduro’s regime has been tied to large-scale drug trafficking, terror-linked networks, and hostile foreign influence from China, Russia, and Iran. That makes Venezuela a regional destabilizer sitting right in the U.S. hemisphere. Addressing that isn’t imperialism — it’s basic statecraft.
The article pretends Trump invented the problem. He didn’t. Venezuela collapsed under decades of left-wing authoritarianism, corruption, and criminal governance. Trump responded to an existing disaster that previous administrations either ignored or quietly enabled.
Reducing that response to “Trump wants oil” is lazy, dishonest, and insulting to anyone who understands geopolitics beyond protest-sign slogans.
Bottom line:
Trump’s Venezuela policy is about dismantling a criminalized hostile regime — not looting resources. The Hill’s framing isn’t journalism. It’s ideological reflex.
Source response:
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5642398-venezuela-minerals-us-strategy/
References:
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-administration-seizes-oil-tanker-off-venezuela-coast-us-officials-say-2025-12-10/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/11/lawmakers-venezuela-oil-tanker
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-corollory/
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