London judge unfreezes $12 billion in Venezuelan assets

ExxonMobil suffered a legal defeat on March 18, when a London judge overturned a decision freezing $12 billion of Venezuelan assets. The assets had been frozen by the order of a London court in February.

ExxonMobil refuses to accept Venezuela’s sovereignty over its natural energy resources.

The dispute arose out of Chávez’s 2007 announcement that foreign petroleum firms operating in the oil-rich Orinoco Belt would have to surrender their majority-stakes ownership to Venezuela’s state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PdVSA). Although most companies signed new agreements with Venezuela, ExxonMobil decided to wage a battle in imperialist courts.

Judge Paul Walker presided over the case and stated that ExxonMobil had “no good arguable case” for claiming that PdVSA had acted unjustifiably in taking control of two of ExxonMobil’s operations.

Venezuelan ambassador Samuel Moncada, who was present in court in the final stages, pointed out, “this judgment is a good one for Venezuela, a good one for [the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] and a good one for countries which want to control their own natural resources.”

OPEC, of which Venezuela is a member, unanimously adopted a motion supporting Venezuela “in the exercise of its sovereign rights over its natural resources.”

The court’s decision is a boost to Venezuela, Latin America and countries around the world fighting against imperialism and its agents. Venezuelan assets were also frozen in the Netherlands and in the Netherlands Antilles, where judgments are pending. The London ruling may pave the way for other judgments favoring Venezuela.

Venezuela’s weight in the energy sector will expand in global importance in the years to come. Venezuela’s crude oil reserves will soon be certified at 316 billion barrels—the largest in the world, surpassing even those of Saudi Arabia. Venezuela has the potential to become the fourth-largest holder of natural gas reserves in the world and the largest in the Western Hemisphere.

Under Chávez, a large portion of Venezuela’s energy revenues no longer end up in the pockets of imperialists and their allies in the Venezuelan elites, but are rather used to meet social needs and to support and strengthen other oppressed countries. The Bolivarian government ensures that the country’s natural wealth benefits its citizens and the Hemisphere.

For the first time in Venezuela’s history, the government is putting oil revenues to work for the people. It is tackling national and regional problems such as economic inequality and poverty, all legacies of imperialist domination.

PdVSA is funding sorely needed educational, medical and poverty-reduction programs throughout Venezuela. Results so far are impressive: 1.5 million formerly illiterate Venezuelans can now read and write; millions of Venezuelans who could not continue their schooling beyond the elementary level are now going to high school and college; and 14 million people who had never been to a doctor now have access to health care.

These gains are fruits of the Bolivarian revolution. ExxonMobil’s attack is part and parcel of the imperialist offensive led by Washington against the Bolivarian revolution. Revolutionaries and progressives around the world must extend their full support to the Venezuelan government and its people in their battle against the U.S. empire and its allies.