The Trump administration is sending mixed messages about Chevron’s status as a major producer of oil in Maduro’s Venezuela. As the U.S. amasses military assets off the country’s coast, the White House and conservative media continue to support Chevron’s business ventures there. The ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Venezuela’s socialist regime is shrouded in various narratives that paint the Venezuelan government as nothing more than a drug cartel whose leader is worthy of a $50 million bounty. At the same time, supporters of Chevron suggest that preventing the company from continuing to drill for oil under Maduro’s oppressive thumb undermines American interests concerning migration, energy, and foreign influence.

The contradiction reveals an unusual mixture of competing media narratives about Venezuela that influence U.S. foreign policy. The United States designates the Venezuelan government as a narco-terrorist organization while extending licenses for Chevron to allow it to continue operations in Venezuela, bringing in significant revenue to a country whose economy is otherwise frail. The resulting policy is one that provides the Maduro regime with financial resources while simultaneously delegitimizing it in almost every other way. Corporate oil interests are playing a special role in the U.S.’s Venezuela policy. (RELATED: Trump Squeezes Maduro’s Narco-State)

The talking points that suggest it is in America’s interest to continue importing oil from Venezuela come directly from Chevron and its messaging apparatus. The company has a longstanding pattern of walking a communications tightrope to obtain exceptional status to continue operating in Venezuela. It has been leading the lobbying efforts to get expanded sanctions exemptions from the Treasury Department as early as 2022. (RELATED: The Soros Footprint in Latin America)

Chevron’s years of lobbying and PR acumen have paid off handsomely for the corporation. A limited version of their license was renewed in July amid heavy lobbying, despite Trump’s escalating hostility toward the South American nation. As the Trump administration builds its own story about the Maduro regime to delegitimize his government as a terrorist organization and drug cartel, it has carved out a special place for Chevron so it can continue to operate in the world’s largest oil reserves, amidst the Trump administration’s $50 million bounty on Maduro’s head and massive military presence off the nation’s coast. (RELATED: Unmasking Iran’s Hidden Footprint in the Americas)

Oil-related business interests significantly influenced the arrangement between the Trump administration’s Special Presidential Envoy Richard Grenell and the Venezuelan government. Earlier this year, Grenell arranged the “oil for migrants” deal with the Maduro government to the consternation of Venezuela hawks, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who support cutting off business with the authoritarian country. The deal allowed Chevron to renew its license to operate in Venezuela in exchange for the country accepting hundreds of thousands of illegal Venezuelan migrants back into the nation.

Grenell has been instrumental in keeping Chevron pumping in Venezuela. According to the Miami Herald, oil businessman “Harry Sargeant III, a major GOP donor who has sought to expand his prior oil and asphalt dealings in Venezuela, worked behind the scenes to facilitate the meeting between Maduro and the envoy, Richard Grenell.” Grenell also echoes Chevron’s talking points in the media about why it should operate in Venezuela, especially regarding Chinese influence in the region. Grenell espouses the same talking points about foreign influence that Chevron’s lobbyists and CEO want him to. In fact, Chevron’s CEO makes almost identical arguments to Grenell about countering Chinese influence to put America first. (RELATED: China Poses a Severe Threat in Panama and Leaves the US With No Choice.)

Various outlets, such as The Daily Caller, Fox, The American Conservative, Steve Bannon’s War Room, and others appear to participate in Chevron’s bidding as well (while engaging in MAGA sycophancy), arguing that if Chevron does not operate in Venezuela, its economy will collapse, leading to more migration to the U.S. They also suggest that if we pull out foreign powers like China and Russia will drill for oil that could otherwise be exported to the U.S., benefiting those countries and hurting the U.S. energy sector. These arguments have had the narrow effect of benefiting Chevron without significantly altering Trump’s otherwise hostile stance toward our neighbor to the south. 

The Trump administration’s softer stance toward Chevron and its pressure on Maduro may seem contradictory. However, this is precisely what the oil giant and its well-funded influence campaign have worked so hard to accomplish. If Maduro stays in power, this icon of capitalism has carved out a place for it to remain the largest producer of oil in socialist Venezuela while appeasing Washington by massaging Trump’s America First agenda. If Trump ousts Maduro, as seems increasingly likely, Chevron is poised to remain in Venezuela for what The New York Times says would be a “boom in oil investment.”

Joey T. McFadden is a writer & commentator with Young Voices, host of “In Response…,” and Blue Co-Chair of the Braver Angels NYC Alliance.

READ MORE:

Trump Revives the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

Maria Corina Machado Getting the Nobel Peace Prize Is Just Fine

The Spectacle Ep. 276: Trump Takes on Venezuela’s Drug Trafficking

, 2025-11-21 03:05:00, , The American Spectator | USA News and Politics, %%https://spectator.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://spectator.org/feed/, Joey T. McFadden