What is the Real U.S. Policy on Venezuela?

How does one judge the true nature and intent of a policy?

Researching an article on immigration policy for The Public Interest magazine, in 1974, I spoke with one expert who described U.S. policy this way: “Don’t look at the speeches. Don’t even look at the laws on the books. The fact is the border is open. If people wanted it closed they’d close it.” So the real policy is to have an open border, he concluded.

This story came to mind as I was thinking about the real Biden administration policy toward Venezuela.

Bloomberg last week published a short note entitled “US Imports of Venezuelan Oil Highest Since 2019 Sanctions.”

I looked at the U.S. Energy Administration’s “Petroleum Supply Monthly” report. Imports of Venezuelan oil, down to zero in 2020, were up to 1,241,000 barrels in January 2023 and 5,082,000 by December 2023. In 2024, they reached 6,387,000 barrels in April, 7,472,000 in May, 6,783,000 in July, and jumped a third in July to reach 9,651,000 barrels.

Then on October 1^st the Biden administration appears to have renewed General License 41, which allows Chevron to continue its activities in Venezuela. As the Venezuelan legal expert Jose Ignacio Hernandez wrote on X, “Today, General License 41, authorizing #Chevron to undertake oil activities, was automatically renewed. Despite prohibitions, the company seems to pay royalties and taxes to Maduro’s Government. Without transparency.”

Now, imagine you are the Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. You have just stolen an elected (July 28), forced the winner into exile, taken four more U.S. hostages, and launched a new wave of brutality. From Washington come condemnations.

But then you look at the oil data. How serious is the United States about opposing your regime when it imports more Venezuelan oil each month and allows Chevron to continue to work? What is the real policy?

Biden administration officials should be ashamed of the oil data and the renewal of General License 41. It would take one day for the president to stop the importation of Venezuelan oil, as the democratic opposition has asked it to do. The failure to do that immediately is inexplicable and undermines the democratic forces in Venezuela. Mr. Biden and his secretary of state once said human rights would be at the center of their foreign policy. They have just four months left to give us some evidence.