Business & Economics
Maduro Appeals to OPEC After Trump Declares Venezuelan Airspace ‘Closed’
Between 30 Nov and 1 Dec 2025, Nicolás Maduro sent an emergency letter to all OPEC states asking them to resist U.S. “military force to seize oil” hours after President Trump warned airlines that Venezuelan airspace was “closed in its entirety” and reinforced a months-long naval build-up.
Focusing Facts
- Operation “Southern Spear” has positioned 15,000 U.S. troops and more than a dozen warships off Venezuela since September 2025.
- U.S. forces have already executed 21 maritime strikes that killed at least 83 people before the 30 Nov air-closure notice.
- Maduro’s 1 Dec letter invoked OPEC’s founding 1960 charter to protect Venezuela’s 303 billion-barrel reserves, the world’s largest.
Context
Great powers using force to secure hydrocarbons is nothing new: Britain and the CIA toppled Iran’s Mossadegh in 1953 after he nationalised Anglo-Iranian oil; Eisenhower imposed an air exclusion over the Suez in 1956; the U.S. declared Iraqi no-fly zones in 1991 before the 2003 invasion. Trump’s blanket air-closure echoes those precursors—often a prelude to kinetic action—and tests the post-1945 norm against resource conquest. The confrontation also exposes two long-term tensions: a century-old fossil-fuel security doctrine persisting even as the world pledges net-zero, and OPEC’s relevance as demand plateaus. If OPEC fails to rally, its collective leverage—already strained since Saudi-Russia deals—could unravel; if Washington proceeds, emerging powers may accelerate alternative payment and security blocs, eroding U.S. dominance. A hundred years out, historians may view this episode either as the last gasp of petro-gunboat diplomacy or as the pivot that normalised open force for dwindling resources in a warming world.
Perspectives
Global-South and Middle-Eastern outlets
Al Jazeera, TRT World, Daily Sabah, Trinidad Express — Frame Washington’s naval build-up as an illegal bid to seize Venezuela’s oil, portraying Maduro as defending sovereignty against US ‘aggression’. By foregrounding US interventions while skimming over Caracas’ own economic mismanagement and human-rights record, the coverage echoes the Venezuelan government’s talking points and appeals to an anti-imperialist audience.
US mainstream/business press
CNN International, UPI — Presents Venezuela’s crisis through the lens of global energy markets, arguing that regime change could unlock the world’s largest oil reserves and ultimately serve US strategic and economic interests. This framing risks normalising military pressure by focusing on the commercial upside for Western firms, giving relatively little attention to civilian deaths from recent strikes or to questions of international law.
Indian mass-market media
The Times of India, India Today — Highlights the theatrical stand-off—Maduro’s rallies, dancing and fiery rhetoric—while emphasising Trump’s ultimatum and the spectacle of looming confrontation. The focus on dramatic set-pieces and colourful quotes can crowd out deeper analysis of either side’s legal claims or the humanitarian stakes, reflecting incentives to maximise reader engagement rather than policy depth.