On Jan. 2, a World
Bank arbitration panel ordered the Venezuelan government to pay oil
giant ExxonMobil $907 million. The money is meant to “compensate”
ExxonMobil for the nationalization of company assets by the
Venezuelan government.
Venezuela and the
rest of South America have for decades been victims of imperialist
exploitation. The start of the 21st century saw the Venezuelan
Bolivarian Revolution reject the neo-liberal globalization paradigm.
Hugo Chávez was elected president in 2001 under the promise to put
the needs of the Venezuelan masses first.
As part of that
revolution, Venezuelans attempted to rein in the power of foreign oil
companies by requiring them to enter into joint ventures with the
Venezuelan government. This raised the ire of the companies,
particularly ExxonMobil. In response, ExxonMobil discontinued all
operations in Venezuela in an attempt to hamper the Venezuelan
economy, leaving its assets behind. The Venezuelan government, in
turn, nationalized the company’s assets in order to continue oil
production—by and for the Venezuelan people.
The “international
community” now expects the Venezuelan people to compensate
ExxonMobil for the assets. ExxonMobil is the norm within the context
of capitalism—an entity that exists only to make money. This is in
sharp contrast to the actions of nations that are attempting to build
socialism.
Through CITGO, a
wholly owned subsidiary of the country’s national oil company
Petróleos de Venezuela,
Venezuela has heated the
homes of hundreds of thousands of poor and low-income U.S. residents.
Since the Venezuela Heating
Program began seven years ago, Venezuela has provided over $400
million in energy services to Americans who would have otherwise been
literally left in the cold by our capitalist economy.
Joseph P. Kennedy
II, founder of Citizens
Energy Corporation and partner in the program, has said that he
approached every major U.S. oil producer asking them to assist poor
communities with the rising cost of energy to no avail. Kennedy
reflects: “They all said no, except for CITGO and the people of
Venezuela.”
It is no surprise
that American oil companies would say no, while a considerably less
wealthy Venezuela would say yes. The oil companies of these two
nations epitomize the capitalism/socialism dichotomy. Capitalists are
only concerned with individual accumulation of wealth. Socialists are
primarily concerned with the well-being of their fellow human beings.
