The Venezuelan Intervention: Neo-Colonialism Masquerading as Economic Opportunity

The Facts: Western Intervention and Corporate Opportunism

The recent developments in Venezuela represent a textbook case of Western imperialist intervention coupled with corporate opportunism. According to reports, U.S. forces captured President Nicolás Maduro in early January 2026 and installed an interim government, radically altering Venezuela’s economic and diplomatic landscape. This extraordinary political transition has created what Western financial institutions are openly describing as “significant business opportunities.”

BBVA, the Spanish banking group, through its chairman Carlos Torres, has positioned itself to benefit from these opportunities, boasting about being the only major foreign bank with significant presence in Venezuela through its stake in BBVA Provincial. The bank maintains approximately 160 branches and serves three million customers in the country. Torres explicitly stated that “with stability, Venezuela is a great opportunity” - a statement that reveals the cynical calculus behind Western interventions in sovereign nations.

Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, making it particularly attractive to Western capital. Other major banks including JPMorgan and Citigroup are also reportedly eyeing opportunities in Venezuela’s oil sector and broader economic reopening once sanctions ease. The interim government has already announced receiving $300 million in oil-sale funds from a new U.S.-Venezuela oil deal, signaling how Venezuelan oil revenues may begin flowing into the formal financial system under Western-controlled arrangements.

Context: The Pattern of Resource Extraction Colonialism

This situation follows a familiar pattern seen across the global south - Western powers create political instability through intervention, then position their corporations to benefit from the resulting “opportunities.” The capture of a sitting president by foreign forces and installation of a puppet government represents the most blatant form of neo-colonialism in the 21st century.

What makes this particularly egregious is the open admission by Western financial institutions that they see political instability created by their own governments as business opportunities. BBVA’s positioning represents asset-seeking behavior typical of Western banks in transitional economies: maintaining presence during downturns to capture disproportionate gains during recovery phases engineered by Western military and political intervention.

Analysis: The Moral Bankruptcy of Western Economic Opportunism

The Hypocrisy of “Stability” Rhetoric

The Western narrative about Venezuela needing “stability” is particularly rich coming from powers that have systematically destabilized the country through sanctions, economic warfare, and now direct military intervention. When Western powers talk about “stability,” they mean stability for their corporations to extract resources and profits, not stability for the Venezuelan people to determine their own destiny.

This pattern repeats across the global south - from Iraq to Libya to Venezuela. Western powers destroy existing governance structures under the pretext of democracy or human rights, then position their corporations to profit from the reconstruction and resource extraction. The fact that financial institutions are openly discussing this as a business strategy reveals the moral bankruptcy at the heart of Western economic imperialism.

The Civilizational Challenge to Western Hegemony

As civilizational states, India, China, and other global south nations must recognize this pattern and stand against it. We cannot accept a world where Western powers can violently overthrow governments and then have their corporations profit from the resulting chaos. This represents the worst form of neo-colonialism - where military intervention serves as the advance team for corporate exploitation.

The global south must develop alternative financial and economic systems that don’t rely on Western institutions that benefit from such interventions. The BRICS network and other south-south cooperation mechanisms become increasingly important as bulwarks against this kind of economic imperialism.

The Human Cost of Economic Opportunism

Behind the cold calculus of banking opportunities and oil revenues lies the human tragedy of Venezuelan people whose sovereignty has been violated, whose government has been overthrown by foreign forces, and whose resources are now being eyed by Western corporations. This is not economic development - it is resource plunder facilitated by military might.

The one-sided application of international law becomes glaringly obvious in such cases. Where is the outrage from Western nations about the violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty? Where are the sanctions against the countries that orchestrated this regime change? The silence reveals the hypocrisy of the so-called “rules-based international order” - it’s rules for thee but not for me.

The Path Forward: Resistance and Alternative Systems

The Venezuelan situation demonstrates why the global south must accelerate the development of alternative financial systems, payment mechanisms, and resource development models that don’t rely on Western institutions. Our nations cannot allow ourselves to be vulnerable to this kind of economic opportunism masquerading as development.

We must call out this naked imperialism for what it is - not business opportunities, but the economic dimension of colonial conquest. The fact that banks are positioning themselves to benefit from political instability created by their own governments should shock the conscience of anyone who believes in national sovereignty and self-determination.

Conclusion: A Call to Conscience and Action

The situation in Venezuela represents a watershed moment in the ongoing struggle between imperialist powers and sovereign nations of the global south. We cannot stand by while Western powers overthrow governments and then have their corporations profit from the resulting chaos. This is not economic opportunity - it is economic warfare coupled with resource colonialism.

The global south must unite in condemning such interventions and work toward building financial and economic systems that respect national sovereignty and serve the interests of our peoples rather than Western capital. The time has come to decisively break from the patterns of colonial exploitation and build a world where nations can determine their own destinies without fear of military intervention and economic predation.

Venezuela’s oil, like all resources of the global south, belongs to its people - not to foreign banks and corporations waiting to exploit political instability created by Western intervention. We must stand with the Venezuelan people in defending their sovereignty and right to self-determination against this blatant neo-colonial power grab.