Venezuela, Oil, and the Limits of Moral Purity

In the wake of the U.S. mission that removed Nicolás Maduro from power and sent him to stand trial abroad, millions of Venezuelans have poured into the streets in celebration while much of the Western left has erupted in outrage over oil, sovereignty, and process. Meanwhile, some estimates suggest 8–9 million Venezuelans have already been driven from their homes in one of the largest displacement crises on earth.In this Season 9 opener, Chalin revisits a conversation he recorded back in 2020 with “Jesús,” a young Venezuelan whose name has been changed for his safety. Speaking from exile, Jesús walks us through what daily life under Maduro actually felt like—empty shelves, broken institutions, fear in the streets, and the slow shattering of any belief that peaceful pressure would work.We use his story to tackle the hard question almost everyone is dodging: when every non-violent tool has failed, what do we owe people living under sustained political terror?Our Substack: The Delve Notes