Great video
https://www.youtube.com/live/MPG8unwxB1g
The Venezuelan operation looks like a textbook move by a US‑aligned financial–security bloc to seize and re‑underwrite a giant energy collateral base, re-route its cashflows through Western capital markets, and deny that energy leverage to rival blocs like China–Russia–Iran.[1][2][3][4][5]
## Core mechanics of the “complex”
- Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, which function as a massive underlying pool of future cashflows and collateral.[3][6][7][1]
- The US strike that captured Maduro and Trump’s pledge that “America will run Venezuela” and invite “very large United States oil companies” back in effectively brings that collateral back under US‑centric legal, financial, and corporate control.[2][7][1][3]
- Chevron’s long‑standing special license, even under sanctions, shows how a core US major was structurally kept in the game as a conduit between PDVSA and the US financial system.[5][8][6]
In energy‑base terms, the deep state financial complex is the network that: writes the contracts, controls the sanctions switches, funds the capex, and securitizes future barrels into dollar‑denominated instruments.
## Sanctions, shadow finance, and reset
- Since 2017, US sanctions progressively locked Venezuela out of US financial markets and directly targeted PDVSA and its oil exports, blocking normal access to dollar funding while carving out exceptions (Chevron) that maintained leverage and visibility.[9][8][6][5]
- Sanctions pushed Caracas into:
- Off‑book oil sales via intermediaries (Rosneft workarounds, disguised cargoes, third‑country routing).[8][6][9][5]
- Emerging “informal” sectors like mining and cryptocurrency as ways to monetize energy and minerals outside the formal dollar system.[9]
- The takeover resets this: it converts a messy shadow flow of energy rents into a more orderly, New York–cleared stream of oil‑backed cashflows under US regulatory, banking, and legal umbrellas.[6][7][1][2][3]
So the same actors who engineered the financial strangulation now stand to intermediate the “reopening” and capture the refinancing upside.
## Integration with US majors and Wall Street
- Trump’s promise that US companies will “spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken oil infrastructure and start making money for the country” reads as a signal that:
- US supermajors and service companies will receive privileged access to reserves and contracts.[10][7][3]
- Those flows will be packaged into loans, bonds, equity, and structured deals through Western banks, funds, and commodity traders.[4][3][6]
- Chevron already functions as a hybrid: recovering old debts with oil shipments, operating under a US Treasury license that can be tightened or loosened as a policy lever.[5][8]
- Prior negotiations where Maduro’s team floated handing US companies broad access to oil and gold to defuse conflict show how the resource base is explicitly treated as bargaining chips for alignment with the US financial system.[4]
This is the deep state financial complex in practice: majors on the ground, Wall Street and commodity houses on the paper, and Treasury/State/DoD running sanctions, security, and legal architecture.
## Geopolitical financial objectives
- Seizing operational control over Venezuelan reserves undercuts China’s oil‑for‑loans structures and its attempt to build a non‑US‑controlled energy lifeline in the Western Hemisphere.[11][1][6][4]
- It reinforces a “Fortress America” energy architecture where:
- US‑aligned producers (US, Canada, Mexico, now Venezuela) anchor hemispheric supply.
- Rivals’ leverage via Middle Eastern or sanctioned producers is diluted.[12][13][1]
- For the dollar system, channeling Venezuelan barrels back into contracts cleared in Western institutions strengthens the role of US financial markets as the primary place where long‑dated energy risk is priced, hedged, and securitized.[1][6][4]
In your energy‑base framing: this is the hegemon forcibly re‑bundling a strategic energy reservoir back into its own monetary/credit stack and cutting off competing claims.
## Where Bitcoin and “off‑system” flows sit
- Pre‑strike, sanctions and economic collapse pushed Venezuela into:
- Shadow oil trades.
- Gold and informal mining.
- Crypto experiments and alleged BTC accumulation as non‑seizable balance‑sheet buffers.[9][4]
- From the complex’s perspective, those are parallel ledgers—claims on energy and minerals escaping dollar jurisdiction—that dilute US visibility and control.[8][5][9]
- The takeover plus “we will manage the country and its oil” is implicitly a move to:
- Reassert jurisdiction over the energy base itself.
- Drag as many of those parallel claims (contracts, debts, possibly even state‑level BTC flows) back toward structures legible to US regulators and courts.[2][3][6][1][4]
So in the Venezuelan case, the deep state financial complex is not an abstraction: it is the merger of military power, sanctions lawfare, major oil firms, and global dollar plumbing, all aimed at re‑owning and re‑monetizing a distressed but enormous energy asset stack.
Sources
[1] How Trump’s Venezuela Takeover Could Change the World
TIME
How Trump’s Venezuela Takeover Could Change the World
Trump’s Venezuela gambit has the potential to impact global oil markets, reshape great-power alliances, and undermine norms.
[2] Live updates: U.S. captures Maduro and his wife after striking Venezuela
PBS News
Live updates: U.S. captures Maduro and his wife after striking Venezuela
The middle-of-the-night seizure of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were transported on a U.S. warship to face narco-terrorism conspiracy cha...
[3] Trump pledges US return to Venezuela oil industry after Maduro's ...
Fox Business
'We built Venezuela’s oil industry:' Trump vows US energy return after Maduro's capture
Trump pledged a U.S. return to Venezuela's oil industry after Maduro's capture, vowing American companies will rebuild infrastructure and reclaim a...
[4] Venezuela's Maduro Offered the U.S. His Nation's Riches to Avoid Conflict
Venezuela’s Maduro Offered the U.S. His Nation’s Riches to Avoid Conflict
Venezuela’s autocrat had proposed allocating his country’s oil wealth and other natural resources to the U.S. and ending deals with American ad...
[5] Explainer: Why Chevron operates in Venezuela despite US sanctions
euronews
Explainer: Why Chevron operates in Venezuela despite US sanctions
Chevron’s continued presence in Venezuela looks like an anomaly amid intensifying US sanctions. In fact, the contradiction is rooted in selective...
[6] How Venezuelan oil factored in US seizure of Maduro
The Business Times
How Venezuelan oil factored in US seizure of Maduro
What role does the country’s oil play in global markets, and what is China’s role in its oil industry? Read more at The Business Times.
[7] With Maduro abduction, Trump flexes muscles and sends world a ...
Le Monde.fr
With Maduro abduction, Trump flexes muscles and sends world a message
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was abducted by US special forces. He is to stand trial before a federal court in New York on charges of
[8] US slaps sanctions on Maduro family, Venezuelan tankers
Al Jazeera
US slaps sanctions on Maduro family, Venezuelan tankers: What we know
US President Trump imposes new sanctions on Maduro family members as he ups pressure to oust Venezuelan president.
[9] Into the shadows: sanctions, rentierism, and economic informalization in Venezuela
http://www.erlacs.org/articles/10.32992/erlacs.10556/galley/10927/download/
[10] Donald Trump's plan to seize Venezuela oil industry after Nicolas Maduro captured faces major hurdles
ABC7 Chicago
Trump's plan to seize and revitalize Venezuela's oil industry faces major hurdles
President Donald Trump's plan to take control of Venezuela's oil industry and ask American companies to revitalize it after capturing President Nic...
[11] Why the U.S. Really Wants Maduro Gone: It’s About Oil, Power, and Russia/China
https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1pctlby/why_the_us_really_wants_maduro_gone_its_about_oil/
[12] Maduro Out: Will Venezuelan Oil Flood the Market and ...
Maduro Out: Will Venezuelan Oil Flood the Market and Tank WTI to $50?
Why Maduro’s Ouster Spells Doom for High Oil Prices – Expert Breakdown
[13] What Trump’s Attack on Venezuela Means for the Region and the World
What Trump's Attack on Venezuela Means for the Region and the World
The US military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a large-scale strike. Experts assess what the unprecedented US intervention me...
[14] The crisis in Venezuela: Drivers, transitions, and pathways
http://www.erlacs.org/articles/10.32992/erlacs.10587/galley/10925/download/
[15] The New Left and Mineral Politics: What’s New?
http://www.erlacs.org/articles/10.18352/erlacs.9604/galley/10025/download/
[16] Economic and Social Turmoil in Venezuela Caused by Autocracy and Misgovernance
https://www.journals.resaim.com/ijresm/article/download/412/385
[17] A story within a story: Venezuela’s crisis, regional actors, and Western hemispheric order upheaval
http://www.erlacs.org/articles/10.32992/erlacs.10585/galley/10928/download/
[18] Two Decades of Imperial Failure: Theorizing U.S. Regime Change Efforts in Venezuela from Bush II to Trump
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1162&context=classracecorporatepower
[19] The Devil and Florentino: Specters of Petro-Populism in Venezuela
đź“„.pdf
[20] Some of the Causes of Conflict Between Europe and Latin America
đź“„.pdf
[21] Trump says U.S. will run Venezuela after U.S. captures Maduro
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/loud-noises-heard-venezuela-capital-southern-area-without-electricity-2026-01-03/
[22] The Venezuela Takeover
The Venezuela Takeover
Here’s what you need to know about the U.S. incursion into Venezuela.
[23] A Strategic Break for South America
Foreign Policy
A Strategic Break for South America
In the wake of Maduro’s capture, governments across the continent are facing uncomfortable questions about deterrence and autonomy.
[24] Trump says US is taking control of Venezuela’s oil reserves. Here’s what it means
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/03/business/oil-gas-venezuela-maduro
It's your choice.
One, nation-less,
the other multi national.
