Page F5From§Eachthe early bird edition — 1 September 2026
White House offers Pentagon 35% of Venezuela oil as Chevron drills deeper into Trump’s leases
Every lease carries a ledger. The White House deal lists 17 oil fields, each with a 100-year lease, and Pentagon ownership at 35%, per the Daily Caller and Truthout. Chevron’s operations deepen under Trump’s push. The ledger shows the government’s share routed not to public funds but to military interests. The lease term is longer than most mortgage lifetimes and lands in the Pentagon column, not the public one. The scale — 100 years, 35% — sits beside Chevron’s expansion, the government’s stake, and the public’s exclusion. The receipts are precise, hon: a century-long oil grab, a military cut, and a corporate drill. The ledger doesn’t surprise; it reconciles. The dollar signs don’t trickle down. The column gaps where public benefit would land. The oil flows, the rent accrues, the ledger closes. The reader’s cut is missing. That’s the books.
“They’re cutting up Venezuela’s oil fields and handing slices to Pentagon and Big Oil, just like it says. If you missed the lease, don’t worry — Chevron’s already set up shop. The government’s share isn’t for schools, it’s for the war chest.”
“It’s not a giveaway, it’s a partnership—okay, maybe the Pentagon gets 35%. But that’s just good business, right? If Chevron drills deeper, that’s just American energy independence. Wait, did I say 100-year leases? That doesn’t sound like me.”
The receipts
Economist Francisco Rodríguez says no Venezuelan government would enter such a deal unless they were “held at gunpoint.”
‘could be a little bit’
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.