A group of Venezuelan socialists and communists over the weekend protested in Caracas against the oil agreement signed by Venezuela’s socialist regime and the United States.
The state-owned, Caracas-based newspaper CiudadCCS reported that Saturday’s march was organized by the “Anti-Imperialist Popular Front,” a coalition of far-left chavista sympathizers of the Venezuelan socialist regime. According to Venezuelan and international outlets, the “Anti-Imperialist” front was formed in April with the stated goal of “fighting” America’s presence in Venezuela.
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The group reportedly gathered near the Venezuelan Capitol building in downtown Caracas to express their rejection of the oil deal announced by President Donald Trump on Friday that grants the U.S. control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s vast proven oil reserves. Per CiudadCCS, the group wore red shirts and carried banners with the image of late socialist dictator Hugo Chávez. The protesters also expressed their rejection to the presence of “U.S. imperialism and Zionism” in the country — demanding that the United States “returns” $13 billion of oil revenue allegedly “stolen” over the past months.
According to CiudadCCS, some of the protesters yelled chants such as “We don’t want to be a colony of imperialism,” “Out with the gringos, out with Israel,” “Trump, murderer and imperialist,” and “The people united will never be defeated.”
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Other Venezuelan outlets, such as VPItv and EVTV, detailed that the far-left protesters also expressed their rejection of the ongoing negotiations between the socialist regime and Venezuelan opposition representations and demanded the release of deposed socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, whose drug-trafficking trial is slated to begin in New York on June 1, 2027.
Humberto Vargas, a member of the “Anti-Imperialist” front that organized the rally, told reporters that they are “fighting against the empire.” The activist affirmed that the socialist group has determined that “our true enemies are Yankee imperialism and Zionism and their henchmen in Venezuela.”
“Those are our enemies, and that is why we are out on the streets,” Vargas said, and affirmed that the group will soon “analyze” the contents of the oil deal and will continue to protest the United States’ policy on Venezuela.
According to the Spanish news agency EFE, the socialist protesters handed fliers to passersby summarizing their demands. The protesters reportedly condemned the ongoing regime-opposition talks as an alleged “orchestrated trap” of the United States to impose a “plan” allegedly devised by President Trump following the January 3 U.S. law enforcement operation in Caracas that resulted in the arrest of Nicolás Maduro.
No reports on the march indicate that the chavistas faced any state repression as a result of their dissident activity. This marks a stark contrast to what anti-socialist protesters in Venezuela experienced for over a decade under now-“president” Delcy Rodríguez and her former boss Maduro, whose regime regularly killed, beat, ran over, raped, and tortured dissidents.
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President Trump, in a Truth Social post, detailed on Friday that the oil deal “more than doubles” America’s oil reserves, increases the United States’ oil supply, and “will substantially lower gas prices for all Americans, long in the future,” while helping Venezuela continue its recovery.
“Acting President” of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez praised the oil deal during a televised address on Sunday in which she thanked Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for their efforts towards reaching said agreement. Rodríguez emphasized that the oil deal with the United States will give “endless” benefits to Venezuela while turning the South American nation into an oil and energy “powerhouse.”
The White House published a fact sheet of the oil deal on Monday night, emphasizing that it secures America’s energy dominance for the next century at zero cost to the United States.
“The deal, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, gives the U.S. government powerful governance rights, economic ownership, and guaranteed low-cost off-take from a new private Venezuelan oil champion, which will be the second-largest private oil company by reserves in the world,” the White House said.
As part of the deal, the White House detailed, the Venezuelan interim regime granted North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), a private oil producer, 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields with proven reserves of approximately 65 billion barrels. The majority of the fields that will be operated by the firm were “previously controlled or operated by Russian and Chinese firms, or by corrupt cronies of Maduro and Chavez.”
“These malign foreign actors looted Venezuela’s resources for the benefit of American adversaries like Cuba, Russia and China and failed to invest in Venezuela’s infrastructure or development,” the White House said.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.