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For Immediate Release
April, 03 2020, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Erin Jensen, (202) 222-0722, ejensen@foe.org
Big Oil to Talk Bailout With Trump
CEOs from seven major oil companies are meeting today with Trump in the White House. The discussion is expected to include support for the industry amidst the coronavirus and the Saudi-Russia oil price war.
"Polluters have wasted no time exploiting the coronavirus for profit," said Lukas Ross, senior policy analyst at Friends of the Earth. "While Americans are losing their lives and healthcare workers are pleading for protective equipment, the Trump Administration is bending over backward to bailout Big Oil. This is a telling testament to Trump's disastrous priorities."
WASHINGTON
CEOs from seven major oil companies are meeting today with Trump in the White House. The discussion is expected to include support for the industry amidst the coronavirus and the Saudi-Russia oil price war.
"Polluters have wasted no time exploiting the coronavirus for profit," said Lukas Ross, senior policy analyst at Friends of the Earth. "While Americans are losing their lives and healthcare workers are pleading for protective equipment, the Trump Administration is bending over backward to bailout Big Oil. This is a telling testament to Trump's disastrous priorities."
Since the crisis began, Friends of the Earth has tracked and analyzing the numerous ways that polluters have sought to exploit the crisis, including:
- The potential for royalty relief on public lands and waters to subsidize giant companies like BP, Shell and Exxon
- The potential for the $500 billion slush fund from the last stimulus to support the ailing, cash-strapped fracking industry
- The likely illegal bid to prop up oil prices with purchases into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.
(202) 783-7400LATEST NEWS
International Law Experts Agree: Trump-Ordered Attack on Venezuela 100% Illegal
"International law is not 'dead' just because the most powerful no longer respect it," one expert stressed. "To preserve the rules-based international order, all states need to call out breaches of the law when they occur."
Jan 05, 2026
Protests have erupted in the US and around the world following President Donald Trump's attack on Venezuela and abduction of President Nicolás Maduro, and international law experts on Monday joined in rebuking the deadly military operation, with several outlining exactly how Trump's actions were unlawful.
At Just Security, University of Reading professor of international law Michael Schmitt, New York University law professor Ryan Goodman, and NYU Reiss Center on Law and Security senior fellow Tess Bridgeman explained that the US military's bombing of Venezuela and kidnapping of Maduro differs legally from the dozens of boat strikes the US has carried out in the past four months.
The attacks in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed more than 100 people and have also been violations of international law, according to numerous legal experts—but they "have occurred in international waters against stateless vessels," wrote Schmitt, Goodman, and Bridgeman.
In contrast, the operation in the early morning hours on Saturday took place within Venezuelan borders and "is clearly a violation of the prohibition on the use of force in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter," they wrote. "That prohibition is the bedrock rule of the international system that separates the rule of law from anarchy, safeguards small states from their more powerful neighbors, and protects civilians from the devastation of war."
Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, to which both the US and Venezuela are parties, states:
All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.
The scholars vehemently rejected the narrative the Trump administration has put forward for months about its escalation in the Caribbean and Venezuela: that the White House simply aims to protect Americans from drug trafficking, a claim that officials have repeated despite the fact that US and international law enforcement agencies have not identified the South American country as a significant player in the drug trade.
For Trump's assertions that drug cartels in Venezuela pose an imminent threat to Americans "to make any sense," wrote the authors, "the drug activity must be characterized as an 'armed attack' against the United States... Drug trafficking simply does not qualify as, and has never been considered, an 'armed attack.' In brief, the relationship between drug trafficking and the deaths that eventually result from drugs being purchased and used in the United States is far too attenuated to qualify as an armed attack."
"It is indisputable that drug trafficking is condemnable criminal activity, but it is not the type of activity that triggers the right of self-defense in international law," they continued, adding that any possible involvement by Maduro's government in the drug trade also does not rise "to the level of an armed attack against the United States."
Schmitt, Goodman, and Bridgeman wrote that "Operation Absolute Resolve," as the administration has termed the Saturday attack that killed more than 80 people, "amounts to an unlawful intervention into Venezuela’s internal affairs," and that while officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio have claimed the kidnapping of Maduro was simply a law enforcement operation and not an act of war, the US does not have jurisdiction to carry out such an action in Venezuela without the government's consent.
"The United States has engaged in governmental activity in Venezuela—law enforcement—that is exclusively the domain of the Venezuelan government," wrote the authors. "Even though the United States does not recognize the Maduro government as legitimate, international law provides that the relevant officials to grant consent are those of the government that exercises 'effective control' over the territory; in this case, officials in the Maduro administration."
As a head of state, Maduro is also subject to protections from enforcement jurisdiction by another state, they wrote, under "customary international law."
"The United States has engaged in governmental activity in Venezuela—law enforcement—that is exclusively the domain of the Venezuelan government."
The authors wrote that, as Maduro said in a statement Monday, the president may be considered a prisoner of war and be "entitled to the extensive protections of the Third Geneva Convention," given his status as commander-in-chief of Venezuela's armed forces. His wife is also "entitled to a robust set of protections afforded to captured civilians" under the Fourth Geneva Convention, they wrote.
The explanation by Schmitt, Goodman, and Bridgeman bolstered remarks by other international law experts including Ben Saul, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism.
Saul on Saturday condemned Trump's "illegal aggression against Venezuela and the illegal abduction of its leader and his wife," and said the president "should be impeached and investigated for the alleged killings," of dozens of Venezuelans in the attack.
“Every Venezuelan life lost is a violation of the right to life," he said.
At the Conversation, Australian National University international law professor Sarah Heathcote emphasized that the UN Security Council, which held an emergency meeting Monday in response to the US strike, had not authorized the attack. Such an authorization, along with consent by Venezuela's government or a credible claim that the US was acting in self-defense, would have made the Trump administration's actions lawful.
Instead, she wrote, "the US intervention in Venezuela was as brazen and unlawful as its military strike on Iran in June last year."
"But international law is not 'dead' just because the most powerful no longer respect it," she said. "To preserve the rules-based international order, all states need to call out breaches of the law when they occur, including in the current instance."
At the Security Council meeting, UN Secretary-General António Guterres emphasized "the imperative of full respect, by all, for international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, which provides the foundation for the maintenance of international peace and security."
"Venezuela has experienced decades of internal instability and social and economic turmoil. Democracy has been undermined. Millions of its people have fled the country," he said. "In situations as confused and complex as the one we now face, it is important to stick to principles. Respect for the UN Charter and all other applicable legal frameworks to safeguard peace and security."
"International law contains tools to address issues such as illicit traffic in narcotics, disputes about resources, and human rights concerns," he added. "This is the route we need to take."
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'I Consider Myself a Prisoner of War,' Says Maduro, Pleading Not Guilty in US Court
"I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I remain the president of my country."
Jan 05, 2026
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called himself a "prisoner of war" while pleading not guilty to narco-terrorism charges in a US court in New York City on Monday, after the Trump administration abducted him and his wife in an overnight raid that killed dozens of people.
"I am the president of Venezuela, and I consider myself a prisoner of war. They captured me in my house in Caracas," Maduro said in Spanish at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan US Courthouse. "I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I remain the president of my country."
After being seized by US forces before dawn on Saturday, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were moved to a Brooklyn jail, over the objections of New York City's recently inaugurated mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who called President Donald Trump after the military operation.
The Associated Press reported on the couple's transfer to the Manhattan courthouse early Monday:
A motorcade carrying Maduro left jail around 7:15 am and made its way to a nearby athletic field, where Maduro slowly made his way to a waiting helicopter. The chopper flew across New York Harbor and landed at a Manhattan heliport, where Maduro, limping, was loaded into an armored vehicle.
A few minutes later, the law enforcement caravan was inside a garage at the courthouse complex, just around the corner from the one where Donald Trump was convicted in 2024 of falsifying business records. Across the street from the courthouse, the police separated a small but growing group of protesters from about a dozen pro-intervention demonstrators, including one man who pulled a Venezuelan flag away from those protesting the US action.
The 25-page US indictment released Saturday claims that Maduro, who previously served in Venezuela's National Assembly and as the South American country's minister of foreign affairs, "has partnered with his co-conspirators to use his illegally obtained authority and the institutions he corroded to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States."
Maduro "now sits atop a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking," the document continues. "That drug trafficking has enriched and entrenched Venezuela's political and military elite."
Like her husband, Flores pleaded "not guilty, completely innocent," during the Monday arraignment. According to CNN, reporters observed bandages on Flores' head and her attorney, Mark Donnelly, told the presiding judge that she sustained "significant injuries during her abduction," including possibly bruised or fractured ribs.
The presiding judge is Alvin Hellerstein, a 92-year-old appointed to the Southern District of New York by former President Bill Clinton. Al Jazeera noted that he "has overseen numerous high-profile cases in his career, including relating to the 9/11 attacks and the Sudanese genocide."
"It's my job to assure this is a fair trial," said Hellerstein, who scheduled the next hearing for March 17.
The weekend abduction has sparked global protests, comparisons to the US invasion of Iraq, demands for Trump's impeachment, concerns about the involvement of American oil companies, and fears of the White House's threats of more military action elsewhere.
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'Terrorists in Imperial Uniform': US Forces Kill 32 Cubans During Venezuela Invasion
What Trump administration officials called a "law enforcement operation" should, in fact, "be called a massacre," said one critic.
Jan 05, 2026
Cuba's government said Sunday that 32 Cubans, including military and police officers, were killed by US forces during President Donald Trump's illegal invasion of Venezuela and abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife last weekend.
“As a result of the criminal attack perpetrated by the United States government against the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela... 32 Cubans lost their lives in combative actions, who carried out missions representing the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, at the request of counterparts in the South American country,” the office of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said in a statement.
"Faithful to their responsibilities to security and defense, our compatriots fulfilled their duty with dignity and heroically and fell, after fierce resistance, in direct combat against the attackers or as a result of the bombing of the facilities," the Cuban leader added.
Díaz-Canel also hailed the slain security forces on X, posting, "Honor and glory to the brave Cuban combatants who fell confronting terrorists in imperial uniform, who kidnapped and illegally took out of their country the president of Venezuela and his wife, whose lives our own helped to protect at the request of that sister nation."
Trump also acknowledged the deaths, telling reporters Sunday aboard Air Force One that "a lot of Cubans were killed yesterday" during what members of his administration called a "law enforcement operation."
“There was a lot of death on the other side," Trump added. "No death on our side."
Cuba's socialist government has sent thousands of teachers, doctors, technicians, and members of its security forces to support the Bolivarian Revolution launched under then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in 1999. There are believed to be between 10,000 and 20,000 Cubans living in Venezuela, according to official estimates from Havana.
Venezuela said Sunday that the preliminary death toll from the US invasion stood at 80, including at least one civilian, 80-year-old Rosa González, who was reportedly killed during a strike on a residential building near Caracas' airport.
Responding to the US killing of the 32 Cubans, Institute for Policy Studies fellow Sanho Tree said on Bluesky that the operation "should be called a massacre as well as an act of aggression."
People's Forum founder Manolo De Los Santos, who is based in Cuba, lauded the 32 Cubans who "gave their lives defending Venezuela's sovereignty against Trump's murderous attack."
"They fought to defend President Maduro from being illegally kidnapped," he added. "This is the US [government's] true face: Bombing, kidnapping, and slaughter."
Saturday wasn't the first time that Cubans died defending a socialist ally against US invasion and regime change. At least 24 Cubans—including soldiers, technicians, and construction workers—were killed along with dozens of Grenadian civilians and security forces during a 1983 US invasion ordered by then-President Ronald Reagan under a set of false pretenses to overthrow the leftist New Jewel Movement government of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. Nineteen US invaders were killed during the operation.
In addition to Venezuela, Trump—who has called himself "the most anti-war president in history" despite ordering the bombing of more countries than any of his predecessors—and members of his administration have threatened to attack or acquire land from nations and territories including Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Denmark, Greenland, Iran—which he already attacked—Mexico, Palestine, and Panama.
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