A translation of the GPK Statement on 4, January, 2026.
[Statement] The United States Must Halt Its Energy-Driven Aggression Against Venezuela
In the early hours of 3 January, the United States carried out airstrikes on Venezuela’s capital. It proceeded to abduct the country’s president and his spouse, and unilaterally declared a proxy authority to govern in their place.
This appalling attack reflects a deeper agenda: expanding U.S. dominance across South America and reasserting control over Venezuela’s oil industry, located in a country that holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves. While it is presented as a “counter-narcotics” operation, the reality is a coercive, energy-hegemony project and an indefensible act of imperial intervention.
In tandem with this assault, Donald Trump declared his intention to bring U.S. oil corporations into Venezuela’s petroleum sector. He stated that major U.S. companies would invest billions of dollars, rebuild oil infrastructure, and generate profits “for the country.” Most brazenly, he attempted to justify this by claiming the United States would “take back the oil” for alleged past harms, and that American companies would be “reimbursed” for their actions in Venezuela. This is an outrageous attempt to cloak profiteering and plunder in the language of entitlement.
History tells a starkly different story.
From the 1920s through the 1970s, U.S. and Western capital deeply penetrated Venezuela’s oil industry, extracting enormous profits. This entrenched a mono-industrial economy centered on foreign oil capital, with the majority of revenues siphoned off to corporate headquarters abroad. While GDP figures grew, domestic accumulation remained minimal. Oil workers were exploited, local communities were devastated, and inequality became structurally embedded. Political interference by U.S. oil corporations further eroded Venezuela’s democratic institutions.
Venezuela’s radical re-nationalization efforts since the 2000s must be understood as resistance to a neoliberal system in which profits were transferred to capital and powerful states through “markets” and “debt,” while costs were imposed on ordinary people. Even after the 1976 nationalization of the oil industry, IMF-driven structural adjustment programs and neoliberal reforms in the 1980s repeatedly reopened the door to privatization and capital flight, leaving deep social devastation in their wake.
Under these conditions, popular anger erupted. In the mid-2000s, under President Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan government expropriated the assets of U.S. corporations operating in the country and re-nationalized the oil industry. In response, the United States imposed sweeping economic sanctions and financial blockades. These measures did not target political elites. Instead, they directly assaulted the lives and livelihoods of the Venezuelan people, inflicting profound and deadly harm.
The United States’ aggression, driven by fossil fuel extraction and the expansion of the oil industry, is not only a Venezuelan issue. It threatens global peace and security, while actively undermining the ability of nations to democratically control their energy systems and to transition away from fossil fuels. In this sense, it also constitutes a direct assault on meaningful climate action and the collective effort to address the climate crisis.
The U.S. invasion of Venezuela is a crime against a sovereign nation and a crime against the shared future of humanity. It endangers sustainability, peace, and climate justice worldwide.
There are no people, anywhere in the world, who desire domination by the United States and Donald J. Trump.
The United States must withdraw from Venezuela now.
This statement was translated with the assistance of AI and subsequently reviewed and edited by the International Committee of the Green Party Korea.
A translation of the GPK Statement on 4, January, 2026.
[Statement] The United States Must Halt Its Energy-Driven Aggression Against Venezuela
In the early hours of 3 January, the United States carried out airstrikes on Venezuela’s capital. It proceeded to abduct the country’s president and his spouse, and unilaterally declared a proxy authority to govern in their place.
This appalling attack reflects a deeper agenda: expanding U.S. dominance across South America and reasserting control over Venezuela’s oil industry, located in a country that holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves. While it is presented as a “counter-narcotics” operation, the reality is a coercive, energy-hegemony project and an indefensible act of imperial intervention.
In tandem with this assault, Donald Trump declared his intention to bring U.S. oil corporations into Venezuela’s petroleum sector. He stated that major U.S. companies would invest billions of dollars, rebuild oil infrastructure, and generate profits “for the country.” Most brazenly, he attempted to justify this by claiming the United States would “take back the oil” for alleged past harms, and that American companies would be “reimbursed” for their actions in Venezuela. This is an outrageous attempt to cloak profiteering and plunder in the language of entitlement.
History tells a starkly different story.
From the 1920s through the 1970s, U.S. and Western capital deeply penetrated Venezuela’s oil industry, extracting enormous profits. This entrenched a mono-industrial economy centered on foreign oil capital, with the majority of revenues siphoned off to corporate headquarters abroad. While GDP figures grew, domestic accumulation remained minimal. Oil workers were exploited, local communities were devastated, and inequality became structurally embedded. Political interference by U.S. oil corporations further eroded Venezuela’s democratic institutions.
Venezuela’s radical re-nationalization efforts since the 2000s must be understood as resistance to a neoliberal system in which profits were transferred to capital and powerful states through “markets” and “debt,” while costs were imposed on ordinary people. Even after the 1976 nationalization of the oil industry, IMF-driven structural adjustment programs and neoliberal reforms in the 1980s repeatedly reopened the door to privatization and capital flight, leaving deep social devastation in their wake.
Under these conditions, popular anger erupted. In the mid-2000s, under President Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan government expropriated the assets of U.S. corporations operating in the country and re-nationalized the oil industry. In response, the United States imposed sweeping economic sanctions and financial blockades. These measures did not target political elites. Instead, they directly assaulted the lives and livelihoods of the Venezuelan people, inflicting profound and deadly harm.
The United States’ aggression, driven by fossil fuel extraction and the expansion of the oil industry, is not only a Venezuelan issue. It threatens global peace and security, while actively undermining the ability of nations to democratically control their energy systems and to transition away from fossil fuels. In this sense, it also constitutes a direct assault on meaningful climate action and the collective effort to address the climate crisis.
The U.S. invasion of Venezuela is a crime against a sovereign nation and a crime against the shared future of humanity. It endangers sustainability, peace, and climate justice worldwide.
There are no people, anywhere in the world, who desire domination by the United States and Donald J. Trump.
The United States must withdraw from Venezuela now.
This statement was translated with the assistance of AI and subsequently reviewed and edited by the International Committee of the Green Party Korea.