Marco Rubio dropped a geopolitical truth bomb at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: Venezuela’s discounted oil sales to China were a direct assault on US security. Rubio, tapped as Secretary of State, revealed how Maduro’s regime handed Beijing crude at $20-per-barrel steals, often debt-swapped, turning the Western Hemisphere into a battleground for rivals.
Describing it as ‘a drug lord’s regime doubling as an enemy ops center,’ Rubio warned of the peril: adversaries operating freely in America’s neighborhood. China’s gains weren’t just economic; they eroded US leverage through sheer proximity and volume.
Enter US countermeasures – targeted oil restrictions, dubbed a quarantine. Cheap flows to China dried up; buyers now pay standard rates. Frozen revenues? Locked in US oversight for the Venezuelan populace’s benefit.
China’s model, Rubio noted, thrives on usurious loans securing infrastructure and resources. Momentum shifts, though: Panama bolts from BRI, regional politics realign. The bottom line: Washington won’t tolerate Venezuela as a proxy arena for Beijing’s oil-fueled expansionism.