By Douglas V. Gibbs
The Biden years left America stumbling on the world stage. We became energy‑starved, and embarrassingly dependent on foreign adversaries. Since President Donald Trump has returned to the Oval Office he has engaged the world with a simple, constitutional truth: a sovereign nation must control its own energy destiny. Drill Baby Drill is on the doorstep, but our energy goals also reach beyond our borders as the United States helps rebuild a shattered Venezuela… not as an act of charity, but as a strategic partnership rooted in mutual benefit, regional stability, and the restoration of freedom for a people long abused by socialist tyranny.
The recent decision by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to grant broad operational licenses to Chevron, BP, Shell, Eni, and Repsol marks the most significant rollback of sanctions since the removal of Nicolás Maduro. The socialist strongman who presided over one of the greatest economic collapses in modern history is now in American custody, and Venezuela’s future depends upon the U.S. doing the right thing.
For the first time in decades, Venezuela’s oil fields are no longer the private playground of corrupt elites and foreign adversaries. They are becoming engines of opportunity again.
President Trump has made it clear: the Western Hemisphere must not be dependent on hostile regimes. That means strengthening American production at home and reviving responsible production among our neighbors; especially those who have been economically suffocated by socialism.
The new U.S.–Venezuela energy agreement reflects that doctrine. Interim Venezuelan authorities have agreed to sell up to 50 million barrels of crude to the United States, with revenues placed in U.S.-controlled accounts to ensure transparency, accountability, and protection from corruption.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright, during his historic visit to Caracas, laid out the vision plainly:
“We can drive a dramatic increase in Venezuelan oil, gas, and electricity production – raising wages, creating jobs, and improving quality of life for Venezuelans across the country.”
This is not nation‑building. This is nation‑restoring. This is the Trump Administration helping a once‑prosperous country reclaim its rightful place in the hemisphere while ensuring America’s strategic interests are protected.
Venezuela possesses the largest commercially viable oil reserves on Earth, roughly 300 billion barrels by some estimates. But under Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, those reserves became meaningless.
Socialism did what socialism always does:
- It destroyed infrastructure
- It chased away investment
- It threatened foreign companies with expropriation
- It replaced engineers with political loyalists
- It turned the world’s richest oil nation into a humanitarian disaster
Now, with Maduro gone and a transitional government in place, the United States is helping Venezuela rebuild. Trump is not writing the South American country blank checks. America is not making them dependent upon U.S. presence and handouts. We are simply unleashing private‑sector investment, American technology, and strict accountability.
This is the kind of U.S. Constitution-minded model of foreign engagement founders like Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe would have supported: no endless wars, no nation‑building, no ideological crusades… just mutually beneficial cooperation grounded in sovereignty and economic freedom.
Venezuelan crude is heavy, thick, and difficult to refine, which is a part of the reason the Venezuelan socialist regime had a problem with keeping it afloat…aside from the fact that socialism always fails, that is. Fortunately for any new leadership in Venezuela the United States has the world’s best heavy‑crude refining capacity, especially in Texas and Louisiana.
It’s good for Venezuela, and it’s good for the U.S.
Reopening Venezuelan production means:
- More supply for American refineries
- Lower long‑term energy costs
- Reduced leverage for OPEC and hostile regimes
- Greater stability in global markets
- A stronger Western Hemisphere energy bloc
At a time when geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have pushed oil prices upward, Venezuela’s re‑entry into the market provides a stabilizing counterweight.
Energy independence is not just about drilling at home. It’s about ensuring that the entire hemisphere is strong, stable, and free from the influence of China, Russia, and Iran; a group of hostile nations explicitly barred from participating in Venezuela’s new energy revival.
For years, Venezuelans suffered under a socialist dictatorship that weaponized hunger, rationed electricity, and turned the nation’s oil wealth into a personal slush fund.
Today, they are celebrating in the streets. America is not only “intervening,” but Trump’s administration is partnering with them.
They are seeing:
- Jobs returning
- Refineries restarting
- Foreign investment flowing
- Infrastructure being rebuilt
- A future no longer defined by scarcity
This is what real humanitarian leadership looks like: empowering people to rebuild their own country, not trapping them in dependency.
President Trump’s approach to Venezuela reflects the same principles that revived the American economy:
- Unleash private enterprise
- Cut through bureaucratic paralysis
- Reward allies, isolate adversaries
- Put accountability before ideology
- Use American strength to promote stability, not chaos
And…crucially: Ensure that the American people benefit from every international agreement.
The United States will control the sale of Venezuelan oil and the flow of funds until a fully representative government is established. That is leverage and a strategy that ensures that Venezuela’s new path cannot be hijacked by the same socialist forces that destroyed it.
The reopening of Venezuela’s energy sector is more than an economic story. It is a geopolitical realignment. It is a Trump-led game plan that strengthens the United States, stabilizes our neighbors, and weakens our adversaries.
It is a reminder that American leadership is not about apologizing or retreating. It is about standing tall, defending liberty, and using our strength to build a hemisphere rooted in prosperity and freedom.
And for the Venezuelan people, long betrayed by socialism, it is the first real chance in a generation to reclaim the future that was stolen from them.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
