The United States Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, stated this Saturday that the Venezuelan oil “that was taken” from his country will be returned, following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro in a military operation led by Washington.
"It means that drugs will stop flowing and that the oil that was taken from us will be returned," declared Hegseth, who stated that the United States will control what happens from now on in Venezuela.
“President Trump will set the conditions and decide how the process will unfold. He will dictate where we go from this point,” he added.
The official emphasized that Maduro's capture represents a turning point in U.S. policy towards Latin America, stating that "foreign countries will no longer have enclaves within our hemisphere."
According to Hegseth, the decision to intervene in Venezuela is driven by both national security concerns and the need to restore energy and commercial flows in the region.
The words of the Pentagon chief support the stance expressed hours earlier by President Donald Trump, who announced that the United States will control Venezuela until a fair and orderly transition is ensured.
"President Trump has demonstrated American leadership," Hegseth insisted. "Thanks to his decision, the United States will be able to set the political and economic course of what happens next."
The message makes it clear that Venezuelan oil will be a central axis of the new post-Maduro scenario, and that Washington plans to take a direct role in the management of the country's energy resources.
Analysts indicate that these statements consolidate the new hemispheric control doctrine promoted by Trump, which aims to restore U.S. influence in the region and dismantle the network of alliances between Caracas, Havana, Moscow, and Beijing.
Oil, a historical axis of tensions between Venezuela and the United States
The capture of Nicolás Maduro and the bombings in Caracas ordered by Trump mark a new chapter in a long history of clashes and dependence between Venezuela and the United States, with oil at the core of their relationship.
For more than a century, the energy wealth of this South American country has defined its political, economic, and geostrategic destiny.
Trump has made it clear that oil will be key to the post-Chavismo stage, and that the costs of the military operation will be covered by Venezuela's oil reserves, which account for 17% of the global total, according to OPEC.
In an appearance at Mar-a-Lago, the president claimed that "major American oil companies will invest billions of dollars" to reactivate Venezuela's energy infrastructure.
Hegseth reinforced this stance by stating that “the oil that was taken from us will be returned,” in a direct reference to the state control and the nationalizations that since Hugo Chávez have pushed American companies away from the business.
Historically, the Venezuelan oil industry has been closely tied to the United States. From the arrival of Standard Oil in 1914 until the 1970s, when Venezuela was one of the largest crude oil suppliers in the Gulf of Mexico, the connection was founded on a relationship of mutual dependence: fuel in exchange for political and technological influence.
This symbiosis fractured with the nationalization of PDVSA in 1974 and, especially, with the Chavista reforms of 2007, which imposed total state control over mixed companies and led to international lawsuits with ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. Since then, production has plummeted to a third of its original level, dragging the country into one of the worst economic crises in its history.
Today, as Washington takes political and military control of Caracas, the question resurfaces: Is oil the promise of reconstruction or the prelude to a new dependency?
Analysts agree that the future of Venezuela will depend on both foreign investment and the ability of its new government to ensure stability, transparency, and wealth redistribution.
“Venezuela remains very attractive because no one has more oil,” explained economist José Manuel Puentes to El País. “But without the rule of law or property guarantees, it will be impossible to revive the industry.”
The challenge of the post-Maduro era will not only be to extract oil but also to break the historical cycle that has turned this wealth into a source of inequality, corruption, and political control.
As experts and critics warn, U.S. leadership in this new Venezuelan era must demonstrate whether its goal is sovereign reconstruction or the restoration of an old energy hegemony over the country with the largest reserves on the planet.
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