cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/41686162
from Belly of the Beast
President Donald Trump met with major U.S. oil companies to discuss Venezuela’s oil future. But during the meeting, one executive acknowledged that his company didn’tleave Venezuela because of the Venezuelan government, but due to U.S. sanctions imposed by Trump himself six years ago.
Halliburton Company’s CEO confirmed their operations in Venezuela ended in 2019 after sanctions made it legally impossible to stay, despite decades working in the country and hundreds of Venezuelan workers employed by the company.
The contradiction is not unique to Venezuela. The same dynamic has played out in Cuba: the U.S. imposes “maximum pressure” sanctions that drive out U.S. companies, destroy the economy, and immiserate the population. Then the U.S. points to the resulting collapse as proof of failure and the reason why the doors need to be opened to U.S. companies — except the U.S. was the one that closed them in the first place.
Exxon’s stock went UP after Trump said that he’d keep them out of Argentina. Their CEO said that they’ve had their assets seized twice there already. It’s almost as if the markets think that this is being done without a clear plan of how to actually make it work.
