{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"","title":"The Great Venezuelan Oil Steal","description":"

Nine months after the US abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a highly unusual oil deal has surfaced. The US claims to have struck an agreement to take control of about a fifth of Venezuela's oil reserves. But this isn't a standard international trade agreement; it’s structured through a Barbados-based private company owned by a controversial businessman, with the US Department of Defense taking a 35% stake.

In this episode, we sit down with Francisco Rodríguez, a Venezuelan economist and author of The Collapse of Venezuela: Scorched-Earth Politics and Economic Decline. Rodríguez dismantles the mechanics of this unprecedented $100 billion deal, explaining why major oil companies are nowhere to be found and why Venezuela is currently shipping 40,000 barrels of oil to the US at cost.


Chapters: 

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:03:00 - The Barbados Company and the Missing $100 Billion

00:05:00 - Replenishing the US Strategic Reserve at Venezuela's Expense

00:07:00 - Bypassing Venezuelan Law and the National Assembly

00:09:00 - Comparisons to the 1996 Russian Privatization

00:13:00 - Hugo Chávez and the Origins of Economic Collapse

00:18:00 - The Devastating Impact of US Sanctions

00:22:00 - The Opposition’s \"Faustian Bargain\" with Washington

00:25:00 - \"Regime Compliance\" and the Future of US Intervention


Credits:

Presented by Aman Sethi

Produced by Harry Beney


","author_name":"openDemocracy"}