Control Without Annexation: Venezuela, Oil Governance, and the Limits of Sovereignty

This paper examines the legal, political, and economic implications of United States actions toward Venezuela culminating in the January 2026 arrest of President Nicolás Maduro and the subsequent restructuring of Venezuela's oil governance. Rather than focusing on a single event or justification, the analysis situates these developments within a longer history of U.S.-Venezuela relations, escalating sanctions, and evolving narratives of intervention. The paper traces a progression from economic pressure to the use of force framed as law enforcement, followed by the rapid externalization of control over Venezuela's primary economic asset. It demonstrates that while political leadership and institutional structures within Venezuela exhibited substantial continuity after Maduro's removal, authority over oil production, revenue custody, and market access shifted decisively outward through licensing regimes, financial controls, and regulatory permissions. By examining competing justifications-counter-narcotics enforcement, security threats, regional stability, ideological alignment, and migration control-the paper argues that the multiplication of rationales obscures rather than clarifies the underlying structure of control. It further contends that the Venezuelan case challenges traditional international law frameworks, which are oriented toward territorial occupation and overt force, by illustrating a model of functional control exercised without formal annexation. The analysis does not rest on claims of personal intent or corruption. Instead, it focuses on structure: the use of force, the absence of clear multilateral authorization, and the redirection of a sovereign state's resources under external governance. The paper concludes by questioning whether existing legal norms are equipped to address contemporary forms of intervention that operate through markets, finance, and regulatory authority, and by highlighting the broader implications for sovereignty and precedent in the international system.