Index/People/Hugo Chávez

Hugo Chávez

Former president of Venezuela

Fact-Checks

102 results
Dec 17, 2025
Most Viewed

Which major oil and mining assets were nationalized in Venezuela under Chávez and Maduro?

Hugo Chávez and his successor Nicolás Maduro oversaw waves of state takeovers and tighter state control over oil and mining assets, notably asserting majority or full state stakes in Orinoco heavy-oil...

Dec 19, 2025
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Venezuela steal oil from the United States

The short answer: there is no clear, sourced evidence that Venezuela “stole oil from the United States” as a matter of the U.S. government’s crude being taken; what President Trump and allies have des...

Dec 17, 2025
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what are the Oil, Land, and other Assets stolen by venezuela

President Trump publicly accused Venezuela of having “stolen” U.S. oil, land and other assets and ordered a “total and complete” blockade of sanctioned oil tankers; U.S. authorities have seized at lea...

Dec 17, 2025

Has Venezuela ever seized US-owned oil assets or shipments?

Yes — Venezuela has a documented history of seizing foreign oil assets that included U.S. companies, most notably during the Chávez-era nationalizations and subsequent expropriations in the 2000s, tho...

Dec 17, 2025

Which major international oil companies lost Venezuelan assets under Chávez and why?

Major international oil companies, most notably ConocoPhillips and others operating joint ventures in 2007, had large stakes in Venezuelan projects — including Petrozuata, Hamaca and Corocoro — that C...

Dec 17, 2025

Did Dominion Voting Systems ever operate or have offices in Venezuela?

Dominion Voting Systems is a North American company founded in Canada with headquarters in Toronto and Denver; multiple fact-checks and reporting state it has no ties to Venezuela and did not originat...

Dec 17, 2025

Which foreign oil companies lost holdings to Venezuela's nationalizations under Chávez and Maduro?

Hugo Chávez’s mid-2000s reassertion of state control over Venezuela’s oil sector and Nicolás Maduro’s continuation of that policy led to the effective loss or forced reduction of foreign companies’ op...

Dec 17, 2025

Which foreign oil companies had operations seized by Venezuela during Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro administrations?

Venezuela under Hugo Chávez (1999–2013) and Nicolás Maduro (2013–present) expropriated or seized foreign oil assets including major stakes held by US-based ConocoPhillips in Petrozuata, Hamaca and Cor...

Dec 17, 2025

How much compensation did Venezuela pay to expropriated oil companies and on what timeline were payments made?

Venezuela was ordered by international tribunals to pay at least two major awards tied to 2007 expropriations: roughly $8.7 billion to ConocoPhillips (ICSID/ICC rulings and later enforcement actions) ...

Dec 21, 2025

When did the venazwalllen government take over the US OWNED property and oilfield

The Venezuelan state first nationalized its oil industry in the 1970s — commonly dated to 1976 — an action that shifted control of large foreign (including U.S.) oil operations to the state oil compan...

Dec 20, 2025

Were there incidents of Venezuela nationalizing foreign oil companies that affected US firms?

Yes — Venezuela has nationalized its oil industry in multiple waves and directly expropriated assets operated by U.S. firms, from the wholesale state takeover in the 1970s to targeted seizures under H...

Dec 17, 2025

What lands and properties were nationalized in Venezuela during Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro administrations?

Hugo Chávez led large, formal nationalizations across oil, banking, steel, cement, fertilizer and large tracts of agricultural and urban land—culminating in state operational control of the Orinoco oi...

Dec 7, 2025

Is Venezuela communist?

Venezuela’s ruling movement is led by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), a party that calls itself socialist and grew from Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution, but Venezuela is not unifor...

Dec 17, 2025

How did Venezuela compensate (or not) international oil companies after Chávez seized their assets?

Hugo Chávez’s mid-2000s nationalizations transferred operational control of many foreign-run oil projects to PDVSA and the Venezuelan state, producing a patchwork of outcomes: some firms took negotiat...

Dec 17, 2025

Which foreign oil companies received compensation after Venezuela nationalized assets and how much did each get?

Venezuela’s wave of oil-sector nationalizations (notably under Hugo Chávez and later actions) produced multiple international arbitration claims and some awards: ExxonMobil won an ICSID ruling requiri...

Dec 21, 2025

What were the 2007 Venezuelan oil expropriations and which U.S. companies were affected?

The 2007 Venezuelan oil expropriations were a state campaign under President Hugo Chávez to convert foreign-operated oil projects into majority state-controlled ventures — a demand that led Caracas to...

Dec 17, 2025

What compensation settlements have been paid to foreign oil firms whose Venezuelan assets were nationalized?

Venezuela has faced multiple arbitration claims by foreign oil firms after nationalizations and contract changes; two widely reported awards are ExxonMobil’s ~$1.6 billion ICSID award and ConocoPhilli...

Dec 17, 2025

Which international oil companies had assets seized by Hugo Chávez and in what years?

Hugo Chávez’s government seized or nationalized foreign oil assets in multiple waves, most prominently in 2007 when it reasserted state control over Orinoco heavy‑oil projects operated by major intern...

Dec 17, 2025

What role did the US play in the 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt and its aftermath?

Declassified intelligence and contemporaneous reporting show U.S. officials had prior knowledge of plots against Hugo Chávez and met with Venezuelan opposition and military figures in the months befor...

Dec 18, 2025

What "stolen" oil fields is Trump referring to, and were they actually stolen?

President Trump’s reference to “stolen” oil fields points to long-standing disputes over assets nationalized by Venezuela under Hugo Chávez in the 2000s—particularly the 2007 expropriations of foreign...