Proud of their oil, Venezuelans see a major U.S. stake in their reserves as surrender

For Venezuelans, oil is not simply a commodity. It is tied to national identity, economic opportunity and the belief that the country’s vast reserves belong to its people. That belief suffered a bruising last week when acting President Delcy Rodríguez agreed to give the United States control of roughly one-fifth of Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest reserves in the world.

The deal could eventually generate billions of dollars for an oil industry and economy devastated by years of mismanagement. But many Venezuelans see the arrangement as a surrender. Lisandro Castro, an architect in Caracas, called it “not just worrying, it’s outrageous, because we, like a drop in the ocean, have no power to intervene.” He said there was “genuine collective concern in Venezuela right now about what we are witnessing.”

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Not just worrying, it’s outrageous, because we, like a drop in the ocean, have no power to intervene.

Oil has influenced nearly every part of Venezuelan life since its discovery in the country’s northwest during the 1920s. The resulting boom transformed a poor agricultural society into an urbanized regional power. American energy workers helped popularize baseball, while Portuguese migrants opened bakeries and Italians designed buildings that remain standing.

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There is genuine collective concern in Venezuela right now about what we are witnessing.

Venezuela co-founded OPEC and, during the 1970s, had the region’s highest per-capita income. The government nationalized the oil industry through the creation of state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela, known as PDVSA. Foreign companies could operate only as minority partners in joint ventures. Oil revenues supported cheap gasoline, overseas scholarships, free surgeries and other benefits.

Ronal Rodríguez, a researcher at Colombia’s Universidad del Rosario, said Venezuela relied on oil exports for most government revenue rather than taxing citizens and businesses. “Every Venezuelan sees oil as something they have the right to claim,” he said. That long-held view now shapes the public reaction to the proposed U.S. role.

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Every Venezuelan sees oil as something they have the right to claim.