Transcription
Sometimes a teacher needs to be taught. And Dan, right here, pointed out a few things that I missed from my Venezuela post the other day. Okay. So, I'm going to go get my whiteboard and I'm going to correct me.
What I have to do is go a little further back in Venezuelan politics, economics, and their connection to the United States. Thanks, Dan. And I'm getting my whiteboard. All right. Right about there. Consider this the prequel to This is the prequel to my other TikTok. All right. Here we go.
Venezuela. I'm going way back. Number one. Colonized by Spain. And from the worst anti-hero, Columbus. Remember when Columbus hits land he's never been to before, finds a bunch of people already living there, and then claims as though he's discovered it? I forgot the year. 1498. My prequel goes deep.
Number two, they gain their independence in 1821. Now, we all understand that's going to be political independence, and there's already significant economic control that's going to linger, right? Venezuelan leader was a guy named Bolivar. Fought a war for like 10 years to actually gain independence.
Now from 1821 till approximately 1908, Venezuela went through a very, very tumultuous time where different dictators and different leaders tried gaining power again and again and again. But 1908 is a special year. Want to know who their liberator was? And understand, I use the word "liberator" very sarcastically. You guessed it. In 1908, the US, God, they had their nose in everybody's business really on. Supported a coup and installed a dictator of their own. Oh, they do love a good coup. As long as they're on the winning end of it.
Were we on number five? I already erased it. I can't remember. I'm going with five. The US installed a guy named Gomez from 1908 till 1935. I bet you can't guess the deals he made in order to get this power, can you? This is when US companies got great deals and sweeping reform and access to Venezuela and all of the natural resources they have in order to make a lot of money. Liberation always comes with a price, folks.
Number six, by 1928, 98% of the oil was given to a company called Standard Oil. You guys know them as the Rockefeller baby. And this company eventually becomes, you guessed it, Exxon. We're getting to like part two of the prequel. That company was incredibly huge. During this control, they developed something called oil camps. Sounds horrible. So here they moved in US citizens with schools, hospitals, housing. I spelled housing with an A for some reason. All to drill, baby, drill. Where have you heard that before? And this established a huge corporate center of English-speaking Americans in Venezuela. After this part of the history lesson, you're going to understand why Perez is about to do what Perez is about to do.
This next part is the part that I should have included in that first video, but I didn't. So, here's what happened. In 1976, the president Perez was the first president to nationalize, nationalize oil in Venezuela. Now, it was done in stages. So he then steps into the first stage of nationalization. I caught it at the second stage. Let me explain what happened here. He created the PDVSA, which is a government-run and government solidified or unified way to run Venezuelan oil. And guess who's not going to like it? Standard oil. Don't worry, guys, we're almost in the home stretch. Think of it like, you know, when you find out that Darth Vader is really Anakin. If you didn't know that already, I don't know what to do with your life.
All right. In the '90s, Venezuela starts suffering huge economic problems, including coup attempts from people with inside of their country. Do I really think they're inside their country? I'm not too sure. Do we think the United States was funding these ones as well? Possibly. But I digress. Before I get to the tail end, I also want to talk about the fact that Perez was one of the key architects of OPEC. And OPEC stands for oil producing exporting countries. These countries, five major countries that get together and decide to stabilize oil prices for international use. You want to know where Perez got this idea? Texas. Go look it up. I'm not lying. I can't make it up if I wanted to, guys. It's hysterical. West does is complain about OPEC, but they're really the ones their capitalist policies taught them how to do it. Well, more like their monopolistic policies. Wow, that's a hard word to say.
All right, homestretch. All of that economic hardship, hardship will lead to the election of Chavez. We're almost there, but I want to add one more thing. When he got elected, did he lie when he was getting elected? Absolutely. Did he does he turn out to be a horrific person? Absolutely. As well. However, this is the second phase of the nationalization of oil policy in which he come 2007 decides that 60% ownership needs to be given and profits need to be given back to Venezuela. So, he took it a step further. He just didn't take away the control. He wanted to take away all of the profit. And it's here that companies like Exxon don't agree at the end, don't agree with how much he was taking and how much it was going to weaken their interest, their control, and their profit margins in Venezuela.
Now, for the rest of the story, you're going to go back to my last video. You're going to find out what happened to Venezuela thereafter and what's going on with Donald Trump and the United States. But as you can see, the further back we go, the more I understand. The United States is at the root of everything forever and always. Guys, keep your nose in your own country.
[music] Want to learn about Venezuela? I'm getting the board. Whoever said teaching wasn't physical. All right, people want to know about what's going on between the United States and Venezuela. But in order to understand what's going on today, you need to understand what has gone on before. That's why history is so important, guys. Come on.
Venezuela and the US. I've decided to do this chronologically because I feel like doing history metaphorically difficult. Number one, pre-1998. Pre-1998, Venezuela had a huge oil supply, actually biggest in the world. And the biggest stakeholder was a US company called Exxon. Why is this important? Because of their huge oil supply in Venezuela, Exxon took it over. So the vast amount of profit, the percentage of profit went to the US and Venezuela as a country got next to nothing. And because of this, their economy started to fail. And as their economy started to fail, guess what? A dictator waiting in their wings wanted to jump in and save themselves from God knows who. Oh, from the United States. How do I get stake in oil companies is taking over the entire world?
Number two, 1998. That's not right. Hate it when I can't write numbers properly. Hugo Chavez was a democratically elected president of Venezuela. Now, once he got in, again, I say democratically, he started to push towards authoritarianism and he started reducing the checks and balances of the democratic system. Side point. Does that remind you of anybody else? He also started to rewrite the constitution to solidify his dictatorial power. Parallels are really uncanny.
2002, a woman named Maria March, ignore how I said that, but keep that name locked in your head because she's going to be important later, created an organization called Sumat in order to overthrow the Chavez government. Who do you think was funding her operation? You guessed it, George W. Bush, President of the United States at the time, was funding her through the National Endowment of Democracy. You know what? People just make up names to mean anything nowadays. So through this National Endowment for Democracy, the United States funded March in order to overthrow Chavez. And when it didn't work, Bush said, "Not my problem. I didn't know anything about it." And she was eliminated from all political life going forward. And then in 2002, Bush was a very busy guy.
Number four, in 2007, Chavez, reinvigorated with power in an authoritarian regime, decides to nationalize Venezuelan oil. That meant that Venezuela took all of Exxon's money, all their oil, and all their access to oil and shifted the lion's share of profits back to Venezuela and left Exxon, well, not a lot of money. P.S., Exxon then sued and won $1.4 billion in a claim. But what kind of international police force are we going to get to for Venezuela to be forced to pay Exxon? None. After that huge shift of economic power, Venezuelan oil dropped from three million barrels a day way down to 700,000 barrels a day due to corruption. And let's be honest, informal sanctions put on them by the United States because they just stole a bunch of their money from corporations. Stole might be a US word considering the oil was on Venezuelan land and considered a Venezuelan resource. But who's counting? The US really does imperialism out of 10, don't they?
New chalk number five. Guy named Mado, used to be the VP of Chavez, takes over and he starts building an even stronger authoritarian government. I forgot the year. 2013, Obama calls the drug cartel and this particular regime a threat to democracy and national security of the United States. That's then followed by Trump putting on economic sanctions in 2017. Are you with me so far? This is about to get interesting. By interesting, I mean even more corrupt.
6, 2025. I brought you right up to the present. Maria Marado, remember I told you to remember that name, wins the Nobel Peace Prize. And who does she dedicate it to? None other than Donald Trump. And it's at this point that Donald Trump begins attacking boats, Venezuelan boats, calling them drug cartels, talking about revitalizing and restoring democracy to Venezuela, and talking about how they're a threat to national security. And guess what? The US got to go in and save some people. Oh, and P.S., Donald Trump wants his oil back.
It's the ending that's really going to get you. The big question about why Donald Trump is doing this is why? And I think the answer is going to surprise you a little bit. Number one, he is going to claim that he is going to liberate Venezuela. Guys, always be careful when the United States of America liberates anything because usually it means they're going to take it. And he's going to install Maria as the president, formally excommunicated from all political life. But she's going to serve a purpose. Number two, Marado will then give oil rights back to, you guessed it, Exxon. 80% goes to them, 20% back to Venezuela. Everybody's happy and a new power is installed. But that's not the only reason this is happening. This last one's going to blow you away.
Number three, is it about oil? Absolutely. They want control of the world's biggest oil supply. But that's not the full answer. What the real answer is is US currency rates. Follow along. This gets tricky. Oil has always been traded in US dollars called petrol. And what that has served the United States in doing is solidifying, is stabilizing, is increasing US dollars. Because if anybody wants to buy oil anywhere in the world, they have to use US currency. It artificially inflates the price of the US dollar and stabilizes the US economy. This is the real problem because what Trump and the United States is really afraid of are BRICS nations. What are they? They are nations. They are countries that have gotten together and are starting to trade without the United States, especially oil, and not use the US currency as their trading denomination. And that is going to possibly submarine the US economy. So, is it about oil? Sure. But what really it's about is about the United States being able to control the entire market of trade when it comes to oil, thus inflating and propping up the US economy. So when somebody says, "Is it about the oil?" Say, "Sure." But that's just a vehicle for them to control everything else.
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