WEBVTT - Fossil-fueled Fascism

0:00:17.242 --> 0:00:30.162
<v Speaker 1>Pushkin, lady, good gentlemen, starts pleasure to welcome you to Georgetown, Guyana.

0:00:30.442 --> 0:00:32.762
<v Speaker 2>A few years ago, our old producer is there of

0:00:32.922 --> 0:00:35.842
<v Speaker 2>entry and I took a reporting trip to Guyana. We

0:00:35.882 --> 0:00:38.202
<v Speaker 2>did a whole season on the country, just as it

0:00:38.282 --> 0:00:42.042
<v Speaker 2>was becoming a brand new oil superpower.

0:00:42.682 --> 0:00:43.362
<v Speaker 3>Right now.

0:00:43.442 --> 0:00:46.242
<v Speaker 4>Even there are parts of the east coast, and even

0:00:46.282 --> 0:00:50.202
<v Speaker 4>here during spring tides, you should see the waves coming

0:00:50.242 --> 0:00:53.242
<v Speaker 4>over the top of the wall. So any kind of

0:00:53.402 --> 0:00:55.602
<v Speaker 4>rise in sea level, we're in trouble.

0:00:56.442 --> 0:00:58.722
<v Speaker 2>That was salad Or, one of our guides in Guyana,

0:00:59.002 --> 0:01:01.922
<v Speaker 2>giving us a tour of the sea wall surrounding Georgetown,

0:01:02.322 --> 0:01:03.282
<v Speaker 2>the country's capital.

0:01:03.922 --> 0:01:06.681
<v Speaker 4>How much do you keep building this wall up? At

0:01:06.722 --> 0:01:09.402
<v Speaker 4>some point we're going to have to think about moving,

0:01:09.482 --> 0:01:13.081
<v Speaker 4>and the government is already about it, actually moving the

0:01:13.161 --> 0:01:16.081
<v Speaker 4>capital back into where the big airport is.

0:01:16.722 --> 0:01:19.882
<v Speaker 2>Ninety percent of the country will need to be moved

0:01:19.961 --> 0:01:22.282
<v Speaker 2>in the next decade or so due to sea level

0:01:22.362 --> 0:01:26.681
<v Speaker 2>rise exacerbated by climate change. But the government of Guyana

0:01:26.842 --> 0:01:31.321
<v Speaker 2>wasn't embracing oil because they thought climate change was a hoax. No,

0:01:31.961 --> 0:01:36.521
<v Speaker 2>they said they were embracing it to pay for climate adaptation.

0:01:37.682 --> 0:01:41.122
<v Speaker 2>I asked doctor Troy Thomas, a professor at the University

0:01:41.161 --> 0:01:44.762
<v Speaker 2>of Guyana who's questioned the government's decision to allow massive

0:01:44.801 --> 0:01:48.082
<v Speaker 2>amounts of drilling offshore, what he thought of this idea.

0:01:48.962 --> 0:01:51.122
<v Speaker 5>I want him to show me one example where that

0:01:51.202 --> 0:01:56.962
<v Speaker 5>has happened, and then show me another example where Guyana

0:01:57.162 --> 0:02:01.642
<v Speaker 5>was forced to lead on something and develop something new.

0:02:01.682 --> 0:02:03.922
<v Speaker 5>And should the rest of the world show me those

0:02:03.922 --> 0:02:06.722
<v Speaker 5>two things side by side. In fact, show me one

0:02:06.762 --> 0:02:10.602
<v Speaker 5>of them first and then I might be interested. Neither

0:02:10.642 --> 0:02:14.762
<v Speaker 5>of those two things have happened, and so that to me,

0:02:14.962 --> 0:02:18.722
<v Speaker 5>and it doesn't make sense. You've got to release more

0:02:18.802 --> 0:02:23.842
<v Speaker 5>into the atmosphere in order to have the ability to

0:02:23.922 --> 0:02:26.762
<v Speaker 5>clean it up. And if we look at the rate

0:02:26.842 --> 0:02:30.002
<v Speaker 5>to which you know there is no cap on exploration,

0:02:30.482 --> 0:02:34.681
<v Speaker 5>that's something that we are talking about low carbon development,

0:02:35.442 --> 0:02:40.681
<v Speaker 5>but petroleum exploration and development is open ended. And I've

0:02:40.682 --> 0:02:44.202
<v Speaker 5>been asking the question, maybe not loudly enough, but how

0:02:44.282 --> 0:02:45.122
<v Speaker 5>much is enough?

0:02:45.642 --> 0:02:52.602
<v Speaker 2>How much is enough? It's a great question. If you

0:02:52.682 --> 0:02:55.282
<v Speaker 2>haven't listened to that season already, go check it out.

0:02:55.562 --> 0:02:57.842
<v Speaker 2>We get into everything it does and doesn't mean for

0:02:57.922 --> 0:03:01.642
<v Speaker 2>Guyana to be a big oil state, what it means

0:03:01.642 --> 0:03:04.282
<v Speaker 2>for the people who live there, all of that for

0:03:04.362 --> 0:03:06.802
<v Speaker 2>our purposes today, though, I'm going to go back to

0:03:06.962 --> 0:03:09.842
<v Speaker 2>Salvador and something he told Sarah and I about the

0:03:09.922 --> 0:03:13.882
<v Speaker 2>early days of Guiana's founding as a country. He and

0:03:13.962 --> 0:03:16.682
<v Speaker 2>his colleague Jamal led us through a small museum in

0:03:16.762 --> 0:03:21.202
<v Speaker 2>downtown Georgetown, stopping occasionally to give us some backstory.

0:03:23.562 --> 0:03:25.642
<v Speaker 6>So, as you know, Guyana was actually spelt g u

0:03:25.882 --> 0:03:28.362
<v Speaker 6>i n e. At one point of time under the

0:03:28.402 --> 0:03:31.282
<v Speaker 6>British name, you got the true Guanas and what they

0:03:31.402 --> 0:03:34.762
<v Speaker 6>used to call British Guiana, Dutch Guiana, and French Guiana.

0:03:35.002 --> 0:03:39.442
<v Speaker 6>Dutch Guiana is surnam what else is here?

0:03:39.882 --> 0:03:44.802
<v Speaker 3>And Spanish Gas here on our Knaco Spanish Caana became

0:03:44.882 --> 0:03:49.282
<v Speaker 3>part of Venezuela, Portuguese Ganda became part of Brazil. So

0:03:49.362 --> 0:03:53.562
<v Speaker 3>you've got French now, French, Dutch and English. But the

0:03:53.722 --> 0:03:54.922
<v Speaker 3>border got changed.

0:03:55.682 --> 0:03:58.242
<v Speaker 2>At this point, Salvador stood in front of a big

0:03:58.362 --> 0:04:01.242
<v Speaker 2>map of the country to show how these former colonies

0:04:01.282 --> 0:04:04.202
<v Speaker 2>had been divided into new countries.

0:04:06.322 --> 0:04:10.602
<v Speaker 3>To Brazil. And we gave them all of this to Venezuela.

0:04:11.002 --> 0:04:15.762
<v Speaker 3>Now do you claim that this should be border? So

0:04:15.882 --> 0:04:20.882
<v Speaker 3>two thirds again they say belongs to them.

0:04:18.242 --> 0:04:26.482
<v Speaker 7>Not no way, sorry, here.

0:04:27.922 --> 0:04:28.682
<v Speaker 3>Not happening.

0:04:29.922 --> 0:04:32.762
<v Speaker 2>In case you missed that, he's saying that Venezuela is

0:04:32.842 --> 0:04:36.642
<v Speaker 2>laying claimed to a portion of Guyana. That border dispute

0:04:36.682 --> 0:04:40.202
<v Speaker 2>has been going on for decades, but the twenty fifteen

0:04:40.242 --> 0:04:43.562
<v Speaker 2>discovery of oil in Guyana really got it going again.

0:04:44.042 --> 0:04:47.482
<v Speaker 2>By that point, Venezuela had kicked out the foreign oil companies.

0:04:48.882 --> 0:04:52.082
<v Speaker 2>We interrupt this program to bring you a breaking news story.

0:04:52.282 --> 0:04:56.002
<v Speaker 6>US oil giant Exon strikes oil in Guyana.

0:04:56.202 --> 0:04:59.202
<v Speaker 2>Exon was the company that felt most screwed over by

0:04:59.282 --> 0:05:04.241
<v Speaker 2>Venezuela's final nationalization of oil. The government had said, hey,

0:05:04.442 --> 0:05:08.042
<v Speaker 2>you guys can stay only as minority partners, and Chevon

0:05:08.122 --> 0:05:12.041
<v Speaker 2>said okay, but Exon said no way, and its assets

0:05:12.082 --> 0:05:15.362
<v Speaker 2>in the country were seized. It already knew at the time,

0:05:15.442 --> 0:05:18.482
<v Speaker 2>of course, that it was camping out on oil permits

0:05:18.522 --> 0:05:21.442
<v Speaker 2>in Guyana that it had had since the nineties.

0:05:22.562 --> 0:05:26.762
<v Speaker 7>The reason why we are famous know is that Venezuela

0:05:26.842 --> 0:05:35.482
<v Speaker 7>has denied the US companies. They're rightful share, whatever that

0:05:35.562 --> 0:05:35.762
<v Speaker 7>may be.

0:05:36.242 --> 0:05:40.522
<v Speaker 2>This is Alfred Boulai, a longtime engineer and energy expert

0:05:40.562 --> 0:05:45.002
<v Speaker 2>in Guyana. Today he works for Transparency Institute Guyana, which

0:05:45.042 --> 0:05:49.202
<v Speaker 2>pushes for increased government transparency. He says, there had been

0:05:49.322 --> 0:05:53.562
<v Speaker 2>exploratory oil drilling off and on in Guyana for decades

0:05:53.682 --> 0:05:55.442
<v Speaker 2>before Exxon's big announcement.

0:05:56.482 --> 0:05:59.682
<v Speaker 7>I knew it was oil being grilled, and certain knowledgeable

0:05:59.722 --> 0:06:05.322
<v Speaker 7>people knew that, particularly mister Borlam in the nineteen seventies,

0:06:06.242 --> 0:06:09.602
<v Speaker 7>the former president. He knew these things.

0:06:10.402 --> 0:06:15.282
<v Speaker 2>That's for President Forbes Burnham. The country officially gained independence

0:06:15.322 --> 0:06:18.921
<v Speaker 2>from Britain in nineteen sixty six. In the lead up

0:06:18.962 --> 0:06:22.362
<v Speaker 2>to independence, the most popular party was the People's Progressive

0:06:22.402 --> 0:06:26.282
<v Speaker 2>Party the PPP. At that point, it was a cross

0:06:26.362 --> 0:06:29.642
<v Speaker 2>racial party led by two men, one of Indian descent,

0:06:29.962 --> 0:06:33.962
<v Speaker 2>Chetty Juggan, the other of African descent. Forbes Burnham, like

0:06:34.002 --> 0:06:36.882
<v Speaker 2>a lot of other South American political leaders at the time,

0:06:37.002 --> 0:06:40.242
<v Speaker 2>they were both leftists, and they had strong opinions about

0:06:40.282 --> 0:06:46.322
<v Speaker 2>who should own and benefit from Guyana's natural resources. It's people. Also,

0:06:46.482 --> 0:06:49.162
<v Speaker 2>like a lot of South American countries, Guyana was on

0:06:49.202 --> 0:06:52.282
<v Speaker 2>the CIA's radar at the time, and they had strong

0:06:52.282 --> 0:06:55.242
<v Speaker 2>opinions about which of these two men they'd prefer to

0:06:55.322 --> 0:06:58.962
<v Speaker 2>see in charge of so many resources. That was Burnham,

0:06:59.082 --> 0:07:02.242
<v Speaker 2>the one who didn't spend quite so much time throwing

0:07:02.282 --> 0:07:05.762
<v Speaker 2>back Mohidos with Fidel Castro. As they have done in

0:07:05.882 --> 0:07:09.682
<v Speaker 2>so many countries, the CIA leaned on racial differences to

0:07:09.922 --> 0:07:14.242
<v Speaker 2>split the party in two and then backed Burnham. Despite

0:07:14.362 --> 0:07:18.522
<v Speaker 2>its large stores of oil and relative stability compared to

0:07:18.562 --> 0:07:21.962
<v Speaker 2>some of its neighbors, Guyana wasn't a big target for

0:07:22.082 --> 0:07:25.202
<v Speaker 2>its oil for a while because it sat beneath the

0:07:25.242 --> 0:07:28.882
<v Speaker 2>ocean floor some forty miles off the coast. So from

0:07:28.882 --> 0:07:31.802
<v Speaker 2>the seventies to the early two thousands, the big US

0:07:31.842 --> 0:07:34.882
<v Speaker 2>oil companies were concentrating on Venezuela.

0:07:35.482 --> 0:07:39.162
<v Speaker 7>So I am absolutely sure that they knew there was

0:07:39.202 --> 0:07:43.842
<v Speaker 7>oil there and just waited, Venezuela is going to play bad.

0:07:45.362 --> 0:07:48.562
<v Speaker 7>Then they said, well, okay, we have oil elsewhere, and

0:07:48.602 --> 0:07:53.642
<v Speaker 7>then negotiated a very sweet deal. And so the people

0:07:53.682 --> 0:07:59.202
<v Speaker 7>who knew about oil knew these things, but the general

0:07:59.282 --> 0:08:03.802
<v Speaker 7>public didn't. I have a personal theory that the oil

0:08:03.842 --> 0:08:06.362
<v Speaker 7>is all connected, and that's one of the reasons the

0:08:06.442 --> 0:08:11.322
<v Speaker 7>Venezuelans don't really want drilling taking place here, because let

0:08:11.322 --> 0:08:14.482
<v Speaker 7>me drill there is already thinking.

0:08:15.202 --> 0:08:18.522
<v Speaker 2>If you're hearing a lot of things that sound familiar,

0:08:18.922 --> 0:08:22.162
<v Speaker 2>it sound like a little bit about what's happening today

0:08:22.402 --> 0:08:25.842
<v Speaker 2>with the US with Exon and with Venezuela. Yeah, I

0:08:25.922 --> 0:08:29.922
<v Speaker 2>know after the break, what everything the US and Exon

0:08:29.962 --> 0:08:32.602
<v Speaker 2>we're getting up to in Guyana had to do with

0:08:32.641 --> 0:08:36.602
<v Speaker 2>the invasion of Venezuela years later, and how it all

0:08:36.602 --> 0:08:41.281
<v Speaker 2>connects back to the topic of this miniseries, fossil fueled fascism.

0:08:42.042 --> 0:08:45.322
<v Speaker 2>I maybe Westervelt and this is drilled stay with us.

0:08:52.442 --> 0:08:55.922
<v Speaker 2>I never really stopped reporting a story once I've started,

0:08:56.002 --> 0:08:58.482
<v Speaker 2>so even though it's been a while since my last

0:08:58.482 --> 0:09:01.281
<v Speaker 2>reporting trip to Guyana, I keep tabs on the news there,

0:09:01.482 --> 0:09:04.242
<v Speaker 2>try to keep up with sources all of that, and

0:09:04.322 --> 0:09:07.881
<v Speaker 2>I was surprised when suddenly one day last year, I

0:09:08.002 --> 0:09:12.322
<v Speaker 2>saw a tweet from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio

0:09:12.482 --> 0:09:17.521
<v Speaker 2>praising Guyana for taking action to crack down on narco trafficking.

0:09:18.602 --> 0:09:21.242
<v Speaker 2>In the press release that he quote tweeted, the Guyanese

0:09:21.242 --> 0:09:26.242
<v Speaker 2>government had specifically namechecked a gang. I knew the US

0:09:26.281 --> 0:09:31.202
<v Speaker 2>government had just invented the Carfel de los Soles in

0:09:31.362 --> 0:09:34.322
<v Speaker 2>much the same way that the Trump administration has lumped

0:09:34.442 --> 0:09:39.641
<v Speaker 2>anyone with progressive politics under the umbrella Antifa and designated

0:09:39.681 --> 0:09:44.281
<v Speaker 2>it as a terrorist organization. Garfel de los Soles is

0:09:44.801 --> 0:09:49.321
<v Speaker 2>an idea, the idea of government corruption, of government officials

0:09:49.921 --> 0:09:53.041
<v Speaker 2>looking the other way at drug traffickers, maybe even taking

0:09:53.122 --> 0:09:57.242
<v Speaker 2>bribes from them, but it doesn't exist as an actual entity.

0:09:58.442 --> 0:10:00.602
<v Speaker 2>I knew for my time in Guyana that they had

0:10:00.722 --> 0:10:04.881
<v Speaker 2>beef with Venezuela, and that that beef was about oil,

0:10:05.401 --> 0:10:09.881
<v Speaker 2>and that the oil economy in Guyana was tied more

0:10:09.962 --> 0:10:14.042
<v Speaker 2>to one company and any other Exonmobile, and that that

0:10:14.242 --> 0:10:19.161
<v Speaker 2>company also had beef with Venezuela. Time to dig into

0:10:19.242 --> 0:10:22.562
<v Speaker 2>what had been going on with Guyana and Venezuela lately

0:10:23.161 --> 0:10:24.801
<v Speaker 2>turned out a lot.

0:10:25.561 --> 0:10:28.482
<v Speaker 8>Venezuela held a vote asking whether it should take over

0:10:28.521 --> 0:10:30.441
<v Speaker 8>a portion of neighboring Guyana.

0:10:30.881 --> 0:10:33.962
<v Speaker 2>This was the first story I found on NPR's State

0:10:34.002 --> 0:10:35.642
<v Speaker 2>of the World, and it was from all the way

0:10:35.641 --> 0:10:40.002
<v Speaker 2>back in late twenty twenty three. Venezuela voted on.

0:10:39.801 --> 0:10:44.162
<v Speaker 8>What now Venezuela's referendum was over a jungle region called

0:10:44.401 --> 0:10:48.362
<v Speaker 8>Essequibo that makes up the western two thirds of Guyana.

0:10:48.442 --> 0:10:51.521
<v Speaker 2>Okay, I knew that Essequibo was where the oil is

0:10:51.521 --> 0:10:54.322
<v Speaker 2>in Guyana, so this was starting to make a little

0:10:54.401 --> 0:10:58.801
<v Speaker 2>more sense. Still, they had a vote on annexing two

0:10:59.041 --> 0:11:01.082
<v Speaker 2>thirds of a neighboring country.

0:11:02.242 --> 0:11:06.962
<v Speaker 8>On Sunday, Venezuela's autocratic president, Nicolas Maduro, held a news

0:11:07.002 --> 0:11:11.761
<v Speaker 8>conference urging Venezuelans to throng to the polling station. They

0:11:11.761 --> 0:11:15.761
<v Speaker 8>were asked to approve or reject five ballot questions. The

0:11:15.842 --> 0:11:21.002
<v Speaker 8>most provocative proposal was to annex Sekibo. Guyana's Prime Minister

0:11:21.161 --> 0:11:24.441
<v Speaker 8>Mark Phillips said in a radio interview that his country

0:11:24.602 --> 0:11:26.282
<v Speaker 8>was preparing for the worst.

0:11:26.641 --> 0:11:29.122
<v Speaker 9>You go to the war with what you have. We

0:11:29.322 --> 0:11:32.881
<v Speaker 9>are prepared to defend Guyana with.

0:11:32.962 --> 0:11:33.482
<v Speaker 1>What to we have.

0:11:33.921 --> 0:11:38.362
<v Speaker 2>Venezuelans did vote to annex sekey Bow, or whatever a

0:11:38.442 --> 0:11:42.482
<v Speaker 2>vote under Maduro was worth, it was enough to mobilize

0:11:42.521 --> 0:11:46.362
<v Speaker 2>the international community. The International Court of Justice announced that

0:11:46.561 --> 0:11:50.002
<v Speaker 2>it has jurisdiction over the border dispute and ask both

0:11:50.041 --> 0:11:53.841
<v Speaker 2>countries to remain calm until it could issue a ruling.

0:11:54.242 --> 0:11:57.522
<v Speaker 10>Ending a final decision in the case, the Bolivarian Republic

0:11:57.561 --> 0:12:02.002
<v Speaker 10>of Venezuela shall refrain from taking any action which would

0:12:02.002 --> 0:12:06.002
<v Speaker 10>modify this situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute,

0:12:06.202 --> 0:12:10.842
<v Speaker 10>whereby the Cooperative Republic of Guyana administers and exercises control

0:12:11.482 --> 0:12:12.282
<v Speaker 10>over that area.

0:12:13.122 --> 0:12:18.002
<v Speaker 2>Meanwhile, various governments pushed for peace talks between Guyana and Venezuela,

0:12:18.041 --> 0:12:22.242
<v Speaker 2>which did eventually happen and resulted in a written agreement

0:12:22.281 --> 0:12:28.681
<v Speaker 2>between the two called the Argyle Accords. Almost everyone seemed

0:12:28.722 --> 0:12:32.162
<v Speaker 2>to immediately ignore this agreement. It was supposed to be

0:12:32.722 --> 0:12:36.561
<v Speaker 2>a cooling off period. They agreed to not do anything

0:12:36.641 --> 0:12:40.202
<v Speaker 2>more around this border dispute until the International Corps could

0:12:40.202 --> 0:12:44.002
<v Speaker 2>make a decision, but almost immediately Guyana asked the UK

0:12:44.202 --> 0:12:47.842
<v Speaker 2>for a show of military support, which it provided it's

0:12:47.842 --> 0:12:51.041
<v Speaker 2>in a warship to the Guyana Venezuela border. A couple

0:12:51.161 --> 0:12:54.761
<v Speaker 2>weeks later. Things calmed down for a couple of months,

0:12:54.881 --> 0:12:58.561
<v Speaker 2>but in April twenty twenty four, Maduro signed the bill

0:12:58.681 --> 0:13:03.242
<v Speaker 2>declaring Sekibo part of Venezuela into law. He took a

0:13:03.242 --> 0:13:06.161
<v Speaker 2>little break after that for a little bit to make

0:13:06.202 --> 0:13:09.681
<v Speaker 2>sure that he could secure reelection, but in January twenty

0:13:09.722 --> 0:13:13.641
<v Speaker 2>twenty five, Maro back at it, this time appointing a

0:13:13.801 --> 0:13:18.881
<v Speaker 2>governor for the new Venezuelan state of Essekibo. For a minute,

0:13:18.962 --> 0:13:22.642
<v Speaker 2>it looked like the Trump administration wasn't all that concerned

0:13:22.681 --> 0:13:23.122
<v Speaker 2>about it.

0:13:23.842 --> 0:13:27.081
<v Speaker 11>The new Trump team didn't seem to mind signaling a

0:13:27.202 --> 0:13:31.362
<v Speaker 11>Rapprochemont with Maduro in exchange for Caracas agreeing to accept

0:13:31.442 --> 0:13:35.362
<v Speaker 11>flights of Venezuelans deported from the US. Trump, though now

0:13:35.401 --> 0:13:39.041
<v Speaker 11>says Maduro isn't taking back deportees fast enough.

0:13:39.521 --> 0:13:42.881
<v Speaker 2>Then in February, Trump cut off an economic lifeline to

0:13:42.962 --> 0:13:47.362
<v Speaker 2>Maduro's government, an exemption that Biden had passed to allow

0:13:47.482 --> 0:13:49.762
<v Speaker 2>Chevron to export Venezuelan oil.

0:13:50.362 --> 0:13:54.041
<v Speaker 4>President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that a permit which has

0:13:54.082 --> 0:13:58.002
<v Speaker 4>allowed US energy giant Chevron to export Venezuelan oil will

0:13:58.041 --> 0:13:58.521
<v Speaker 4>be canceled.

0:13:58.602 --> 0:14:02.281
<v Speaker 11>Venezuela has been under strict US sanctioned since twenty twenty,

0:14:02.521 --> 0:14:05.801
<v Speaker 11>instituted by the first Trump administration in an effort to

0:14:05.801 --> 0:14:10.362
<v Speaker 11>topple authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro. The permit was issued in

0:14:10.362 --> 0:14:13.602
<v Speaker 11>twenty twenty two by the Biden administration on the condition

0:14:13.761 --> 0:14:17.362
<v Speaker 11>that Venezuela hold free and feral elections, But in twenty

0:14:17.442 --> 0:14:21.042
<v Speaker 11>twenty four, after banning the strongest candidate to challenge him,

0:14:21.122 --> 0:14:24.682
<v Speaker 11>Maduro claimed victory for a third term in office, despite

0:14:24.722 --> 0:14:29.201
<v Speaker 11>significant evidence that he had in fact lost Venezuela's political

0:14:29.202 --> 0:14:33.802
<v Speaker 11>opposition estimates that Chevron's exemption from those sanctions has provided

0:14:33.802 --> 0:14:36.722
<v Speaker 11>the Maduro government with roughly four billion dollars.

0:14:37.482 --> 0:14:40.242
<v Speaker 2>Remember in the first episode of this series where we

0:14:40.282 --> 0:14:43.642
<v Speaker 2>talked about the Redline Agreement and how it bred this

0:14:43.882 --> 0:14:48.522
<v Speaker 2>entitlement amongst the oil companies and the governments that supported them. Well,

0:14:48.561 --> 0:14:50.882
<v Speaker 2>at the same time all that was happening in the

0:14:50.882 --> 0:14:54.562
<v Speaker 2>Middle East, oil companies were doing the exact same thing

0:14:54.762 --> 0:14:58.561
<v Speaker 2>in Latin America. Standard Oil of New Jersey, the company

0:14:58.602 --> 0:15:02.202
<v Speaker 2>known today as Exonmobile, was the first foreign oil company

0:15:02.242 --> 0:15:07.482
<v Speaker 2>to explore in Venezuela. It began drilling in nineteen thirteen.

0:15:07.602 --> 0:15:11.642
<v Speaker 2>There Shell soon followed suit and hit him made finned

0:15:11.802 --> 0:15:17.321
<v Speaker 2>in nineteen twenty two. By nineteen thirty three, foreign companies

0:15:17.602 --> 0:15:22.042
<v Speaker 2>Golf Royal, Dutch Shell, and Standard Oil controlled ninety eight

0:15:22.162 --> 0:15:27.162
<v Speaker 2>percent of the Venezuelan oil market. And then Venezuela did

0:15:27.202 --> 0:15:31.842
<v Speaker 2>the unthinkable. It took it back. In nineteen forty three,

0:15:31.962 --> 0:15:36.162
<v Speaker 2>it passed the Hydrocarbons Law, which required foreign oil companies

0:15:36.202 --> 0:15:39.681
<v Speaker 2>to give half their oil profits to the state. In

0:15:39.681 --> 0:15:43.682
<v Speaker 2>two thousand and seven, Googo Chavez decreed that all oil

0:15:43.722 --> 0:15:47.321
<v Speaker 2>projects in Venezuela must be majority owned by the national

0:15:47.322 --> 0:15:54.762
<v Speaker 2>oil company. That's when Exon left and Chevron stayed. This

0:15:54.882 --> 0:15:57.482
<v Speaker 2>brings US up to speed all the way to March

0:15:57.561 --> 0:16:02.922
<v Speaker 2>twenty twenty five, when Marutro crossed a red line.

0:16:01.922 --> 0:16:06.201
<v Speaker 12>Reports emerged of a Venezuelan Coastguard vessel in Guyana's Exclusive

0:16:06.282 --> 0:16:10.762
<v Speaker 12>economic zone, specifically in the starboard bloc, a site crucial

0:16:10.802 --> 0:16:15.842
<v Speaker 12>for offshore oil operations. Social media quickly spread images and

0:16:16.002 --> 0:16:19.362
<v Speaker 12>videos of the vessel and Venezuelan soldiers communicating with the

0:16:19.402 --> 0:16:24.602
<v Speaker 12>Prosperity floating, production, storage and offloading vessel before moving on

0:16:24.722 --> 0:16:26.441
<v Speaker 12>to other units in the area.

0:16:26.561 --> 0:16:29.522
<v Speaker 2>Venezuela Is sent a coast Guard ship to Excellent vessels

0:16:29.561 --> 0:16:33.162
<v Speaker 2>offshore and told them they shouldn't be operating there. Here's

0:16:33.282 --> 0:16:35.762
<v Speaker 2>part of their message to the ships.

0:16:37.762 --> 0:16:42.922
<v Speaker 13>According to present your present a geographical position, you are

0:16:42.962 --> 0:16:49.162
<v Speaker 13>operating in the eclosive economic loan of Venezuela, the public

0:16:49.442 --> 0:16:51.482
<v Speaker 13>Bolivianianublic of Venezuela.

0:16:51.602 --> 0:16:56.602
<v Speaker 2>According to your present geographical position, you are operating in

0:16:56.681 --> 0:17:01.561
<v Speaker 2>the exclusive economic zone of the Bolvarian Republic of Venezuela.

0:17:02.162 --> 0:17:05.962
<v Speaker 2>Diana's president, doctor Irfan Ali, was outraged.

0:17:06.802 --> 0:17:13.042
<v Speaker 9>The patrol vessel transmitted a radio message declaring that the

0:17:13.162 --> 0:17:19.081
<v Speaker 9>FBSO was operating in what it termed disputed international waters.

0:17:19.762 --> 0:17:23.401
<v Speaker 12>Soon after the guy Inese government confirmed the incursion, and

0:17:23.682 --> 0:17:28.402
<v Speaker 12>President Doctor Eir Finale swiftly activated diplomatic channels and condemned

0:17:28.442 --> 0:17:32.081
<v Speaker 12>the actions as a violation of both international law and

0:17:32.121 --> 0:17:34.561
<v Speaker 12>agreements made between the two nations.

0:17:34.882 --> 0:17:39.161
<v Speaker 9>We have reached out to all our international partners, and

0:17:39.361 --> 0:17:45.282
<v Speaker 9>all our international partners have responded positively.

0:17:45.601 --> 0:17:48.242
<v Speaker 2>None more so than the US, which issued a statement

0:17:48.282 --> 0:17:52.802
<v Speaker 2>that Manduro would suffer consequences for his actions. They also

0:17:52.882 --> 0:17:56.242
<v Speaker 2>sent Secretary of State Marco Rubio to deliver this message

0:17:56.321 --> 0:17:59.561
<v Speaker 2>in person a couple of weeks later. It would be

0:17:59.642 --> 0:18:01.601
<v Speaker 2>a very bad day for Venezuelan regime.

0:18:01.882 --> 0:18:04.681
<v Speaker 8>If they were to attack Diana or attack exon Mobile

0:18:04.762 --> 0:18:05.482
<v Speaker 8>or anything like.

0:18:05.522 --> 0:18:06.802
<v Speaker 3>It would be a very bad day or a very

0:18:06.841 --> 0:18:08.641
<v Speaker 3>bad week for them, and it will not in.

0:18:08.762 --> 0:18:09.721
<v Speaker 8>Well for them.

0:18:10.081 --> 0:18:13.442
<v Speaker 2>The very next day after that speech that Rubio gave,

0:18:14.121 --> 0:18:18.002
<v Speaker 2>the US and Guyana conducted joint military maneuvers off the

0:18:18.042 --> 0:18:22.601
<v Speaker 2>coast of Guyana on August nineteenth, So a few months later,

0:18:23.321 --> 0:18:27.802
<v Speaker 2>the US deployed military vessels off Venezuela's coast, claiming it

0:18:27.841 --> 0:18:31.762
<v Speaker 2>was going after Gardfeldli Los Sores. Then, just a couple

0:18:31.882 --> 0:18:36.081
<v Speaker 2>days later, August twenty second, we get this weird Guyana announcement,

0:18:36.121 --> 0:18:39.361
<v Speaker 2>the one I mentioned before. We're there talking about Garthfeldli

0:18:39.442 --> 0:18:43.881
<v Speaker 2>Lo Sores Rubio shares it, and by September second, the

0:18:44.002 --> 0:18:49.482
<v Speaker 2>US is carrying out airstrikes in Venezuela. On December nineteenth,

0:18:50.121 --> 0:18:54.962
<v Speaker 2>Guyana's oil production surpasses Venezuela's for the first time in history.

0:18:56.442 --> 0:19:00.282
<v Speaker 2>On January third, twenty twenty six, the US military bombs

0:19:00.321 --> 0:19:04.162
<v Speaker 2>Caracas and takes Madoro and his wife captive. It's one

0:19:04.162 --> 0:19:08.361
<v Speaker 2>of the clearest examples of fossil fascism. The two are

0:19:08.442 --> 0:19:18.682
<v Speaker 2>later charged with drug trafficking in New York work when

0:19:18.722 --> 0:19:21.962
<v Speaker 2>Trump brings the country's top oil executives to the White

0:19:21.962 --> 0:19:26.442
<v Speaker 2>House to talk about divvying up Venezuela's oil. Though they're

0:19:26.482 --> 0:19:29.802
<v Speaker 2>not what I would call excited.

0:19:30.361 --> 0:19:33.721
<v Speaker 14>President Trump is pushing those oil companies to invest one

0:19:33.841 --> 0:19:37.482
<v Speaker 14>hundred billion dollars in Venezuela's oil infrastructure. At the White

0:19:37.522 --> 0:19:40.841
<v Speaker 14>House on Friday, the President promised American oil executives that

0:19:41.002 --> 0:19:43.082
<v Speaker 14>Venezuela was ready for investment.

0:19:43.361 --> 0:19:46.082
<v Speaker 10>We're taking back what was taken from us.

0:19:46.561 --> 0:19:47.522
<v Speaker 8>They took our.

0:19:47.882 --> 0:19:51.202
<v Speaker 10>Oil unders who we built that entire oil industries.

0:19:50.722 --> 0:19:53.601
<v Speaker 14>But not every company is fully on board, with some

0:19:53.762 --> 0:19:58.441
<v Speaker 14>expressing concern about Venezuelan and regulations and security needs for personnel.

0:19:58.802 --> 0:20:01.561
<v Speaker 4>If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and

0:20:01.642 --> 0:20:05.962
<v Speaker 4>frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today, it's uninvestable.

0:20:06.282 --> 0:20:09.242
<v Speaker 2>That was excellent CEO Darren Woods speaking at the end there,

0:20:09.361 --> 0:20:12.962
<v Speaker 2>and of course Woods is an interest in Venezuela. The

0:20:12.962 --> 0:20:16.081
<v Speaker 2>whole point of this operation, as far as he's concerned,

0:20:16.202 --> 0:20:20.922
<v Speaker 2>was to protect Exxon's play next door in Guana. From

0:20:20.962 --> 0:20:23.802
<v Speaker 2>the early days of oil right up to the present,

0:20:24.042 --> 0:20:27.962
<v Speaker 2>the industry has worked to connect itself to American identity,

0:20:28.561 --> 0:20:31.722
<v Speaker 2>and now the two are almost interchangeable. The fossil fuel

0:20:31.762 --> 0:20:36.162
<v Speaker 2>industry and American imperialism go hand in hand too. Now

0:20:36.202 --> 0:20:39.401
<v Speaker 2>their preferred president is in power, and those who question

0:20:39.682 --> 0:20:43.601
<v Speaker 2>oil dominance or dependents are targeted as the enemy, whether

0:20:43.682 --> 0:20:48.642
<v Speaker 2>foreign or domestic. Fossil fascism is a term used by

0:20:48.722 --> 0:20:52.402
<v Speaker 2>environmental sociologists to describe the response of the fossil fuel

0:20:52.442 --> 0:20:55.841
<v Speaker 2>industry and its political allies to the deepening of the

0:20:55.841 --> 0:21:00.402
<v Speaker 2>climate crisis and increase pressure to transition away from fossil fuels.

0:21:00.682 --> 0:21:04.802
<v Speaker 2>That response, in a nutshell, is increasing alignment with authoritarian,

0:21:04.962 --> 0:21:10.242
<v Speaker 2>nationalist or fascist political movements to protect their interests. Key

0:21:10.282 --> 0:21:14.482
<v Speaker 2>markers of the phenomenon are denial and suppression of climate

0:21:14.561 --> 0:21:19.881
<v Speaker 2>science to protect fossil fuel profits. Check scapegoating of migrants,

0:21:19.962 --> 0:21:25.922
<v Speaker 2>ethnic minorities, or environmentalists. Check authoritarian responses to climate migration

0:21:26.081 --> 0:21:31.002
<v Speaker 2>and resource conflicts, for example, war and border militarization. Check

0:21:31.081 --> 0:21:35.441
<v Speaker 2>and check corporate capture of government. Check the use of

0:21:35.601 --> 0:21:38.882
<v Speaker 2>nationalism to justify continued fossil.

0:21:38.522 --> 0:21:41.561
<v Speaker 8>Fuel extraction, American energy dominance.

0:21:41.841 --> 0:21:42.161
<v Speaker 5>Check.

0:21:42.882 --> 0:21:46.401
<v Speaker 2>All the markers are there, and they've been there, growing

0:21:46.522 --> 0:21:50.002
<v Speaker 2>increasingly more obvious. From the Redline Agreement, to the US

0:21:50.002 --> 0:21:54.242
<v Speaker 2>invasion of Iraq, to the vilification of protesters, and now

0:21:54.282 --> 0:21:58.842
<v Speaker 2>today the invasion of Venezuela and Iran. It's never been

0:21:59.162 --> 0:22:03.161
<v Speaker 2>more glaring. The question is how much longer will we

0:22:03.282 --> 0:22:12.082
<v Speaker 2>let it continue? Drilled is an original critical frequency production

0:22:12.321 --> 0:22:16.441
<v Speaker 2>distributed by Pushkin Industries. This mini series was written and

0:22:16.522 --> 0:22:20.482
<v Speaker 2>reported by me Amy westerveldt Our producers are Martin Saltz,

0:22:20.482 --> 0:22:25.081
<v Speaker 2>Austwick and Peter Duff. Matthew Fleming did the artwork. Our

0:22:25.121 --> 0:22:28.882
<v Speaker 2>First Amendment attorney is James Wheaton of the First Amendment Project.

0:22:29.121 --> 0:22:31.242
<v Speaker 2>Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time,