#EditorialMood La Tabla/Data Journalism Platform 22 DEC 2025
In recent years, the dominant sectors of the Venezuelan opposition have reiterated a conviction that leaves no room for nuance: the end of Nicolás Maduro’s government does not depend on internal dynamics or formal processes, but rather on U.S. military intervention.
This certainty has been formally expressed and repeatedly by its main spokesperson, María Corina Machado, who has made the expectation of external aggression the key element of her political strategy.
Furthermore, U.S. President Donald Trump has clearly outlined the terms of this intervention. It is not an altruistic gesture nor a crusade for democracy, but rather a strategic energy calculation.
Trump has linked military aggression and naval blockades to the return of oil assets that were acquired by ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips during the 1990s opening.
Until Venezuela “returns” those fields and contracts, he has warned, he will not halt the seizure of tankers or military pressure. Oil, more than politics, is the true engine driving this equation.
In line with this logic, Machado has expressed in multiple forums—including CERAWeek 2025—her intention to initiate an accelerated privatization process for all the country’s oil assets.
Her proposal is to transform Venezuela into the energy hub of the region, handing control of a sector that has historically been the backbone of national sovereignty to international corporations.
The promise of privatization is portrayed as an essential complement to military intervention.
The equation is simple and brutal: 1+3=2.
– (1) The belief that only U.S. military aggression can “liquidate” chavismo.
– (3) The commitment to rapid privatization of the oil sector.
– Result (2): the return of assets and fields to American companies, under the oversight of the president who sets Washington’s energy agenda.
The expected outcome is not, then, the democratization of Venezuela, but the restoration of a model of oil plunder disguised as a political transition. The hegemonic opposition has subjugated the country’s future to the corporate interests of the United States, reducing national politics to an energy transaction.
This equation reveals a pattern of dependence and surrender: oil as a bargaining chip, sovereignty as a sacrifice, and democracy as a pretext.
In the end, the equation proposed by this opposition will (again) result in zero (0).