The economic policy of the right: Giving away oil to have power (2)

Published at: 05/07/2024 06:00 PM

As shown in the previous article, regarding the recurrent practice of the Venezuelan oligarchy of negotiating oil to satisfy their interests, this time we will detail the events that occurred during the 90s, in which oil countries revolved around a process of globalization; so they were losing their sovereignty in order to achieve authentic planning, development and implementation of their own strategy, thus weakening the capacity to promote national development policies that would actually benefit them.

As a result, our country's dependence and degree of vulnerability to oil revenues increased. The globalization process meant that the countries that export this resource were transformed into simple branch stores of transnational corporations.

To insert Venezuela into this globalization process, the Christopher Columbus project was created, which was inserted in the context of so-called Strategic Partnerships; which meant implementing greater indiscriminate economic opening to the outside world. Therefore, it was necessary to be clear about the objectives of that process and who were actually planning, developing and implementing the strategies on a global and, of course, national scale.

What the right doesn't count

It is important to consider when this scenario began to take shape, as we can see how on December 23, 1974, the Presidential Commission for Oil Reversion presented to the then President of the Republic Carlos Andrés Pérez, (CAP) the Bill that Reserves the State, Industry and Trade in Hydrocarbons.

On August 29, 1975, the President of the Republic executed the Law that Reserves the Hydrocarbon Industry and Commerce to the State, known as the Oil Nationalization Act, with substantive modifications made by the Executive, which left the door open to negotiations with private entities and transnational agreements.

The oil expert and professor Alí Rodríguez Araque in his book called “The Oil Privatization Process in Venezuela”, in its updated edition for 2012, explained that a few years later, “the president of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Arturo Sosa Pietri, in 1989, presented a report stating that opening up to domestic and foreign private capital was necessary, stressing that the strategy for the coming years focused on increasing production potential, the industrialization of hydrocarbons, especially in the areas of petrochemistry and gas, through the formation of joint ventures with the majority participation of private capital domestic and foreign”.

Later, Professor Rodríguez Araque explained that the new president of PDVSA, Gustavo Roosen, specified that “it is necessary to accelerate the opening of partnerships with foreign capital, since the resources of multinational oil companies are scarce and are being attracted to other regions. The solutions of the '70s and '80s are no longer valid.”

Already at the beginning of the 90s, everything was orchestrated to convince us that privatizing the industry was the ideal solution to cure all the country's ills; coincidentally, opinions began to emerge at the same time and here are some examples:

Roosen justified privatization by stating that it was necessary to offer third parties the opportunity to participate in an oil activity from the exploitation phase and pointed out that in order to develop its oil potential, the country now needs foreign participation.

PDVSA published geological studies in which they assured the existence of accumulations of light and medium crude oils that could add up to 18 billion additional barrels, another Lake Maracaibo to offer to foreign capital.

Also, reports from international financial organizations such as those of Banco Morgan's, indicated that “Venezuela will once again be an open area for oil business ”.

Added to this were the statements of the former CAP president , in relation to the fact that “only the association guarantees our oil development, so we must modify the fifth article to partner with transnational corporations”, this was stated during the closing of a meeting of Fedechambers, on July 19, 1992. On that occasion, CAP concluded by saying that "PDVSA must be associated with domestic and foreign private capital”.

Professor Rodríguez Araque added that in addition, “Hernán Anzola, Minister of Cordiplan during the administration of Ramón J. Velásquez, proposed selling shares to international oil companies, that is, there are no doubts of any kind, based on the daily press, on the reports issued by the Ministry of Energy and Mines and PDVSA, and that these opinions fully agree with what was stated at the National Press Club in Washington in 1972 by Mr. Nelson Rockefeller: “I think that the investment of North American capital in Venezuela through the system of Free enterprise is much better and more effective for any country, especially if it partners with local capital.” This for any average Venezuelan was a sign of shame, said Professor Rodríguez Araque.

As we can deduce, strategic partnerships in the 90s were a masked privatization policy aimed at creating an image of weakness in our national company with the intention of creating the necessary conditions to fully open up foreign capital regardless of the long-term consequences it would bring to our economic sovereignty. The question then arises: Who benefited?

AMELYREN BASABE/ Mazo News Team