Ten Years after Venezuela stole the assets of major oil companies, its socialist government now begs for privatization

Just 25 years ago, Venezuela was the richest and healthiest country in all of Latin America.

Then Venezuelans voted for socialism. As government trusters cheered worldwide, the Venezuelan government began expelling private businesses, stealing their assets and shutting down freedom of press. the property and development projects of Exxon, Conoco and other oil companies were seized by the government.

But the Venezuelan government couldn’t make profits even with the stolen oil assets. The country grew poorer and poorer under socialism.

Now the government has announced that it wants to privatize its oil industry. The government has begun advertising for private companies to bid on rights to drill and extract Venezuelan oil.

But it still owes billions to the oil companies it defrauded and stole from a decade ago. See here.