We cannot have justice for Venezuela in this economy.
Twenty five years ago, Canadian oil was not some unstoppable juggernaut. It was expensive, dirty, politically awkward, and barely worth the trouble unless oil prices stayed high. The oil sands were a gamble. Everyone knew it.
Nobody was chest-thumping about Canada being an energy superpower back then.
Meanwhile, Venezuela is sitting on massive heavy oil reserves that are basically the same stuff Canada pulls out of the ground. Same refineries. Same use. The difference is not the oil.
The difference is where the money went. Venezuelan oil revenue was being used to build schools, hospitals, and social programs instead of getting funneled straight into the pockets of Western oil executives and shareholders.
And right there, that’s the real problem.
So suddenly, there’s a crisis. Not because anyone thought Venezuela was uniquely corrupt or incompetent. Not because the oil stopped working. The story just shows up one day, fully assembled.
Corrupt. Failed state. Dictator. Say it enough times and people stop asking questions.
Then come the sanctions. Then the financial chokehold. Then production collapses. Millions of people suffer. Tragic. But that suffering was not an unfortunate surprise.
It's bad luck Venezuela.
And wouldn’t you know it, right as Venezuelan oil gets shoved off the market, Canadian oil suddenly makes sense. High cost projects become profitable. Infrastructure gets built. Shareholders start smiling again.
Funny how that works. Totally a coincidence, I’m sure.
BTW, it’s called “Canadian oil,” but the people who own it are the same people who own “American oil.” Same investors. Same corporations. Same balance sheets. Regular people in either country are not cashing in.
If we actually benefited from those profits, we would already have been Venezuela’d.
We get about one percent through taxes and fees if we’re lucky. The rest goes straight up the food chain.
Here’s the part people really don’t want to say out loud. The goal was never to take Venezuelan oil and pump more of it.
That would drop prices. That would hurt profits.
The goal is to keep it in the ground. Sanctions, destabilization, asset seizures, invasions, whatever tool fits the moment. Less oil on the market means higher prices. Higher prices mean Canadian oil stays viable and more importantly, the same group of people keep getting rich.
And there’s an extra layer of shit baked into this. A brown skinned country using its own resources to take care of its own people instead of obeying the shareholder rulebook. That’s dangerous.
That sets a bad example. You let that work and suddenly other countries start getting ideas.
Can’t have that.
The Canadian oil sector depends on this story continuing. Venezuelans must remain poor. They must continue to suffer.
So Venezuela has to stay “corrupt.” That narrative is not a side effect. It is the permission slip that keeps their oil suppressed and everyone else’s infrastructure profitable.
That is why there is such aggressive pushback the moment you challenge the dictator narrative. The response is not to engage with facts or history, but to shut down critical thinking.
Suddenly everything is a “nuanced debate.” Doesn't that seem pretty unusual to you?
Suddenly the focus shifts to Trump’s misstep, his tone, his recklessness, anything that keeps attention safely away from the long record of policy, incentives, and outcomes that predate him by decades.
This should be a moment where the media pauses and asks hard questions. Instead, it is treated as a threat. An opportunity to puncture a thin layer of propaganda is turned into an exercise in reinforcing it.
Critical thinking is framed as irresponsible. They scold. They close ranks. Context is treated as suspect. The narrative is not examined, it is protected.
Here’s the ugly truth. The prosperity of the Canadian oil sector is structurally tied to the suffering of Venezuelan people.
That’s not a glitch. That’s the system doing exactly what it was designed to do.
That is empire.
And honestly, the one accidental service Trump’s fuckup did was make it harder to pretend it wasn’t happening. He said the quiet part loud.
Once you see it, you can't unsee it.
Nothing will change for Venezuela. They will go on suffering - Mark Carney's popularity is high and he will make sure the narrative that sanctioning Venezuela is the thing to do. We're the good guys. Meanwhile, Cha Ching!
But maybe more people take notice this time?