Venezuela Didn't Borrow—They STOLE: The $20 Billion Bill Trump's Collecting

Originally aired on O'Connor's Right Stand, December 18, 2025

When the mainstream media reports on Trump's Venezuela blockade, they scream "warmongering!" They call it "illegal aggression." They compare it to Iraq.

But there's something they're either lying about or completely ignorant to: Venezuela owes America over $20 billion in stolen assets—and they've been laughing in our face for 25 years.

That's not hyperbole. That's not campaign rhetoric. That's confirmed by international arbitration tribunals, court judgments, and decades of documented theft.

So when Trump announces he's seizing Venezuelan oil tankers, when he orders a complete blockade of their coast, when he deploys the USS Gerald R. Ford with 15,000 military personnel—he's not starting a war.

He's collecting a debt.

The Armada Surrounding Venezuela Right Now

Let's start with what's happening TODAY.

On December 11th, 2025, Trump announced the United States seized an oil tanker called the Skipper off the coast of Venezuela. When reporters asked what would happen to the oil on board, Trump's response was simple: "Well, we keep it, I guess."

The media went ballistic. Venezuela's socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro screamed about "piracy" and "international crimes." Iran's embassy in Venezuela called it a "grave violation of international law."

Then, on December 16th, Trump escalated. He posted on Truth Social:

"Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before."

And he's not bluffing.

The USS Gerald R. Ford—the world's LARGEST aircraft carrier—is positioned off Venezuela's coast right now with 15,000 military personnel and multiple warships. Venezuela's airspace is closed to their aircraft.

Trump also designated the Maduro regime as a Foreign Terrorist Organization—the same designation given to ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

So when the media asks, "Why is Trump doing this?"—the answer is simple:

Venezuela owes us. And I'm about to show you exactly how much.

Before Socialism Destroyed Everything: Venezuela's Golden Years

Here's what the media won't tell you: Venezuela wasn't always a failed socialist hellhole run by narco-terrorists.

Let me take you back to 1976.

Venezuela nationalizes its oil industry, creating Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA for short). Now, nationalization SOUNDS scary—government taking over private industry. But here's the thing: Venezuela actually did it right.

They structured PDVSA to run as a business, not a political piggy bank. They hired professionals who'd worked for foreign oil companies. They maintained efficiency. They kept costs low. They had a global outlook.

And it worked.

By the 1980s, PDVSA was purchasing refineries in the United States—including CITGO. Yeah, that CITGO. The one with signs all over America. That was Venezuela's company. And nobody cared, because they were a reliable partner.

Between 1995 and 1998, Venezuela was the largest supplier of imported oil to the United States. They provided 13.7% of America's oil imports.

Why were they so successful? Geography.

A tanker could reach the U.S. East Coast from Venezuela in ONE WEEK. Gulf of Mexico refineries? FOUR DAYS. Compare that to Middle Eastern oil that takes weeks to arrive.

It was a symbiotic relationship. Venezuela made billions selling oil to America. America got reliable energy from a stable democracy just 1,500 miles from our coast.

Everybody won.

Venezuela was once one of the richest countries in Latin America. They had the world's largest oil reserves. A thriving middle class. A functioning democracy.

So here's the question: Why would any country destroy that golden goose?

The answer is socialism. And his name was Hugo Chavez.

Hugo Chavez's "Oil Socialism" Nightmare

December 1998.

Hugo Chavez—a former Army lieutenant colonel who'd tried to launch a coup in 1992 and spent time in prison—wins the Venezuelan presidency.

Oil prices had collapsed to $10 per barrel. Venezuela's economy was in freefall. People were desperate.

And Chavez promised to "reshape and restore" Venezuela by taking control away from the "elites" and giving it to "the people."

Sound familiar? It's the same socialist playbook EVERY time.

At first, Chavez moved slowly. But by 2003, he was ready to show his true colors. He started what historians now call his "expropriation rampage."

The 2007 Seizures: When Chavez Kicked Out American Oil Companies

In 2007, Chavez seized operational control of the Orinoco heavy-oil projects—MASSIVE oil fields being developed by international companies like ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron. American companies that had invested billions of dollars.

Chavez didn't just nationalize them. He KICKED THEM OUT.

Told them their contracts were void. Took their equipment. Took their infrastructure. Took EVERYTHING.

ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips refused to accept Venezuela's lowball compensation offers. So they did what American companies are supposed to do: they went to international arbitration.

But Chavez didn't care. He kept going.

He nationalized:

• The telecommunications company CANTV
• Banco de Venezuela
• Cement companies (CEMEX operations)
• Steel companies (including SIDOR)
• Fertilizer plants

And it wasn't just corporate assets. Chavez seized land—hundreds of thousands of acres. British company Vestey Foods, which had operated cattle ranches in Venezuela, got their land STOLEN under Chavez's "land reform" laws.

The Destruction of PDVSA

Here's what kills me: Chavez claimed he was doing this to help the Venezuelan PEOPLE. To redistribute wealth. To fight "imperialism."

But you know what actually happened?

PDVSA—which had been one of the most professional oil companies in the world—got turned into a corrupt political machine.

Chavez fired 40,000 employees and replaced them with political loyalists who didn't know the first thing about running an oil company.

Production started falling.

• 1998: Venezuela produced 3.4 million barrels of oil per day
• 2008: That dropped to 2.4 million
• And it kept falling

Chavez took a company that was making Venezuela rich—a company that employed skilled professionals, a company with global respect—and he destroyed it for political power.

The Bill: What Venezuela ACTUALLY Owes America

Alright, let's talk NUMBERS.

Because this isn't abstract. This isn't theoretical. This is REAL money that Venezuela STOLE from American companies.

ConocoPhillips: $11+ Billion

When Chavez seized their oil projects in 2007, ConocoPhillips went to international arbitration.

And they WON.

The International Chamber of Commerce awarded them $8.7 BILLION. That award was upheld as recently as January 2025.

But that award has been accruing interest since 2007. We're now looking at OVER $11 BILLION owed to ConocoPhillips alone.

Has Venezuela paid them? Nope. Not a dime.

ExxonMobil: $1.6 Billion

They also went to arbitration. They were initially awarded $1.6 billion. That got reduced on appeal, but Venezuela STILL owes them hundreds of millions.

Paid? Nope.

Crystallex International: $1.4 Billion

Canadian mining company. Venezuela nationalized their gold mine in 2008.

Crystallex won an arbitration award for $1.4 billion.

To try to collect, they went to U.S. courts and got a judgment allowing them to seize shares of CITGO—Venezuela's U.S.-based refinery company.

Venezuela screamed bloody murder: "You can't take CITGO! That's OUR asset!"

Oh really? You can steal THEIR gold mine, but they can't recover compensation from YOUR assets?

Rusoro Mining: $1.28 Billion

Another Canadian company. Awarded $1.28 billion for Venezuela nationalizing their operations.

Still unpaid.

The Total: Over $20 Billion

Let's add this up from just these FOUR cases:

• ConocoPhillips: $11+ billion
• ExxonMobil: $1.6 billion (reduced, but still owed)
• Crystallex: $1.4 billion
• Rusoro: $1.28 billion

That's over $15 BILLION in confirmed arbitration awards alone.

And there are DOZENS of other cases. Companies whose land was seized. Whose factories were taken. Whose investments vanished when Chavez's goons showed up with soldiers and said, "This belongs to the revolution now."

When you add up ALL the seizures, ALL the unpaid arbitrations, ALL the stolen assets—we're looking at OVER $20 BILLION that Venezuela owes American companies.

Maduro Made It Worse

You might be thinking: "Okay, but Chavez died in 2013. Surely things got better under the new guy, right?"

Wrong.

Nicolás Maduro took power in 2013, and he's made things WORSE. Way worse.

The Production Collapse

Under Chavez, oil production fell from 3.4 million barrels per day to about 2.4 million.

Under Maduro? It COLLAPSED.

By 2020, Venezuela was producing just 400,000 barrels per day—an 88% drop.

The country with the LARGEST proven oil reserves on Earth can barely pump enough oil to keep the lights on.

Why? Because PDVSA is run by corrupt socialist bureaucrats who steal everything that isn't nailed down. Equipment breaks and doesn't get replaced. Skilled workers fled the country. Oil fields that took decades to develop are sitting idle because nobody knows how to operate them.

Venezuela Became a Narco-State

But that's not even the worst part.

Maduro turned Venezuela into a narco-state.

His Interior Minister—Diosdado Cabello—is widely suspected of being one of the biggest drug lords in the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest.

Venezuela's regime is directly involved in trafficking cocaine into the United States. They work with:

• Colombian cartels
• Mexican cartels
• Hezbollah—yeah, the TERRORIST organization—to smuggle drugs and launder money

Exporting Crime to America

And get this: during the Biden administration, Maduro SENT Venezuelan criminals to the United States.

Members of the Tren de Aragua gang—a brutal criminal organization responsible for murders, kidnappings, and human trafficking—were deliberately released from Venezuelan prisons and pushed across the border into America.

Why? Because Maduro wanted to export his crime problem and destabilize the United States at the same time.

The Migration Crisis

The numbers are staggering: 7.9 million Venezuelans have FLED the country since Chavez took power.

That's 28% of the entire population.

Imagine if 28% of Americans fled the country because things got so bad. That's over 90 million people.

And where does Maduro get support? From our ENEMIES: Iran, Cuba, China, Russia. They're propping him up because they WANT a hostile regime 1,500 miles from America's coast.

Why Trump's Response Is Justice, Not War

The mainstream media is having a meltdown over Trump's Venezuela actions. They're calling it "warmongering." They're saying Trump is "fabricating justification for an illegal war." They're comparing it to Iraq.

Let me be crystal clear: This is NOT about starting a war. This is about COLLECTING A DEBT.

The Legal Basis

Venezuela has been ordered by international arbitration tribunals—tribunals that VENEZUELA AGREED TO—to pay American companies over $15 billion.

They've REFUSED.

When you win a judgment in court and the other party refuses to pay, what do you do? You SEIZE THEIR ASSETS.

That's exactly what Trump is doing.

The tanker he seized was carrying Venezuelan oil in violation of U.S. sanctions. That oil is being used to finance Maduro's regime—the same regime that's trafficking drugs, committing human rights abuses, and refusing to pay its debts.

Seizing that tanker isn't piracy. It's enforcement.

The Moral Basis

American companies invested billions of dollars in Venezuela based on contracts and international law. They created jobs. They developed infrastructure. They took risks.

And then a socialist dictator stole everything and laughed in their faces.

If America doesn't stand up for American companies when foreign governments STEAL from them, why would ANY company invest abroad? Why would anyone trust international law?

The Blockade Isn't an Invasion

Trump isn't invading Venezuela. He's not bombing cities. He's not sending troops into Caracas.

He's cutting off the oil revenue that Maduro uses to finance terrorism, drug trafficking, and oppression.

That's not an act of war. That's ECONOMIC PRESSURE—the same thing we did to apartheid South Africa, Iran, and North Korea.

The Beautiful Irony

Here's the beautiful irony: Venezuela is screaming about "piracy" and "theft."

But THEY'RE the ones who stole American assets. THEY'RE the ones who've refused to pay court-ordered judgments. THEY'RE the ones financing terrorism with stolen oil money.

So when Maduro calls Trump a pirate, that's projection. He's accusing Trump of the EXACT thing Venezuela's been doing for 25 years.

The Precedent Trump Is Setting

When someone steals from you, refuses to pay what they owe, and then calls YOU the criminal when you try to collect—is that justice? Or is that gaslighting?

From where I'm sitting, Trump is the FIRST president in 25 years willing to actually DO something about Venezuela's theft.

• Obama didn't do it.
• Bush didn't do it.
• Biden CERTAINLY didn't do it.

Trump is.

And the establishment is terrified because it sets a precedent:

Steal from America, and there will be CONSEQUENCES.

The Truth the Media Won't Tell You

Venezuela doesn't owe us money because Trump made it up.

Venezuela owes us money because they STOLE American assets, and international courts ORDERED them to pay restitution.

• Over $20 billion
• Confirmed
• Documented
• LEGALLY BINDING

And for 25 years, they've laughed at us. They've called us imperialists while stealing our property. They've trafficked drugs that killed our citizens. They've sent criminals across our border. They've allied with every enemy we have.

And American presidents did NOTHING.

Until Trump.

What You Can Do

So when your liberal friends start screaming that Trump is "starting an illegal war" or "acting like a dictator"—you hit them with the FACTS:

✅ ConocoPhillips has an $11 billion judgment that Venezuela refuses to pay

✅ ExxonMobil, Crystallex, and Rusoro are owed billions more

✅ 7.9 million Venezuelans have fled Maduro's socialist nightmare

✅ Venezuela is a narco-state that deliberately sent criminals to America

✅ Trump isn't starting a war—he's collecting a debt

And then ask them: If someone stole $20 billion from YOU, what would you do about it?

Because that's the question every American should be asking.

And Trump has given his answer.

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