What do you think?
Rate this book
Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire
Corporate Coup looks at the attempted overthrow of the elected government of Venezuela, an intervention which, despite open backing by the United States, failed spectacularly.
In January of 2019, the Trump Administration recognized a little-known opposition lawmaker named Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela. While Washington’s history of coups in Latin America is well-documented, this step was Never before had the United States offered legal recognition to a new government before an actual change in leadership had taken place.
Within months it became clear that the attempt at regime change had fallen all Venezuelan territory, government ministries, and the country’s military remained under the control of President Nicolás Maduro. While US officials, notably Trump’s Venezuela Envoy Elliott Abrams, boasted that roughly 54 countries had followed Washington’s lead in recognizing Guaidó’s authority, the vast majority of United Nations member states rejected the attempted coup. Four years on, Venezuela’s government is firmly in place and Guaidó is nowhere to be seen.
In this fast-paced story, investigative reporter Anya Parampil provides a narrative history of the Chavista revolution and offers character sketches of the figures who took over its leadership after Hugo Chávez’s death in 2014. She shows how Guaidó’s shadow regime consisted of individuals with deep connections to transnational corporations that sought to overturn the revolution and exploit Venezuela’s resources. In particular she uncovers their plot to steal Citgo Petroleum, the country’s most valuable international asset. Corporate Coup exposes the hidden personalities and interests driving US policy on Venezuela, revealing that while the recognition of Guaidó failed at changing reality on the ground in Caracas, it succeeded in facilitating the unprecedented looting of the country’s extensive foreign reserves.
This gripping story from Venezuela shines light on the grim, shadowy character of a US foreign policy that tramples on democratic norms around the globe. And it points to a dramatic consequence of such the rise of a new, multipolar world heralding the end of US empire.
In January of 2019, the Trump Administration recognized a little-known opposition lawmaker named Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela. While Washington’s history of coups in Latin America is well-documented, this step was Never before had the United States offered legal recognition to a new government before an actual change in leadership had taken place.
Within months it became clear that the attempt at regime change had fallen all Venezuelan territory, government ministries, and the country’s military remained under the control of President Nicolás Maduro. While US officials, notably Trump’s Venezuela Envoy Elliott Abrams, boasted that roughly 54 countries had followed Washington’s lead in recognizing Guaidó’s authority, the vast majority of United Nations member states rejected the attempted coup. Four years on, Venezuela’s government is firmly in place and Guaidó is nowhere to be seen.
In this fast-paced story, investigative reporter Anya Parampil provides a narrative history of the Chavista revolution and offers character sketches of the figures who took over its leadership after Hugo Chávez’s death in 2014. She shows how Guaidó’s shadow regime consisted of individuals with deep connections to transnational corporations that sought to overturn the revolution and exploit Venezuela’s resources. In particular she uncovers their plot to steal Citgo Petroleum, the country’s most valuable international asset. Corporate Coup exposes the hidden personalities and interests driving US policy on Venezuela, revealing that while the recognition of Guaidó failed at changing reality on the ground in Caracas, it succeeded in facilitating the unprecedented looting of the country’s extensive foreign reserves.
This gripping story from Venezuela shines light on the grim, shadowy character of a US foreign policy that tramples on democratic norms around the globe. And it points to a dramatic consequence of such the rise of a new, multipolar world heralding the end of US empire.
480 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 16, 2024
42 people are currently reading
373 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 12, 2024
This is such an important book, assessing Washington's assault on Venezuela and its resources from one end while enlightening the reader about the bigger picture.
Expertly researched, witty style and prose, what a great and important read.
Expertly researched, witty style and prose, what a great and important read.
September 1, 2024
That was an interesting read. I will say that reading about current events should always be done with a skeptical eye—oftentimes history books are just propaganda in disguise. But you’ve gotta start researching somewhere. This book is pretty favorable towards the Maduro government of Venezuela, so just know that going in. But it is meticulously researched, with everything carefully notated. Seriously. The bibliography takes up the last 20% of the book. And it is also worth noting that the author was there in Venezuela as many of the events were unfolding.
I’ve found myself feeling a bit uneasy about the justification that the US government gives for economic sanctions sometimes. I would like to trust my government, but imposing strict sanctions against a country for human rights violations or for being an authoritarian regime always just felt like half of the story. We ignore human rights abuses all the time with Saudi Arabia. We look the other way when it suits our needs. So the justification for the sanctions on Venezuela just seemed so vague.
Anya Parampil goes into some depth on the role corporations played in profiting from (or at least trying to profit from) exploiting Venezuela’s oil and mining industry, and also international banking systems. She lists specific court cases and talks about the major players both in the Guiado government and in America. She also did the unimaginable and actually read John Bolton’s book 🤣.
I do feel like I have a better grasp on what US sanctions really are. And I’ve been hearing more and more about BRICS+ lately and she does go into the shifting economic alliances that are emerging. It’s informative without bringing too overwhelming.
She’s got a real bone to pick with Western media outlets as well. A lot of that criticism is well deserved, to be sure, and stories that get reported in The Grayzone sometimes get reported on by major news outlets later on. It’ll be interesting to see if there will be a bit of a shift in how the media reports on Venezuela in the future. Time will tell. For now, I’m still not 100% sure if what I just read was fair or biased, but it does bring up some interesting questions about exactly what the US government was hoping to achieve with all of these sanctions.
I’ve found myself feeling a bit uneasy about the justification that the US government gives for economic sanctions sometimes. I would like to trust my government, but imposing strict sanctions against a country for human rights violations or for being an authoritarian regime always just felt like half of the story. We ignore human rights abuses all the time with Saudi Arabia. We look the other way when it suits our needs. So the justification for the sanctions on Venezuela just seemed so vague.
Anya Parampil goes into some depth on the role corporations played in profiting from (or at least trying to profit from) exploiting Venezuela’s oil and mining industry, and also international banking systems. She lists specific court cases and talks about the major players both in the Guiado government and in America. She also did the unimaginable and actually read John Bolton’s book 🤣.
I do feel like I have a better grasp on what US sanctions really are. And I’ve been hearing more and more about BRICS+ lately and she does go into the shifting economic alliances that are emerging. It’s informative without bringing too overwhelming.
She’s got a real bone to pick with Western media outlets as well. A lot of that criticism is well deserved, to be sure, and stories that get reported in The Grayzone sometimes get reported on by major news outlets later on. It’ll be interesting to see if there will be a bit of a shift in how the media reports on Venezuela in the future. Time will tell. For now, I’m still not 100% sure if what I just read was fair or biased, but it does bring up some interesting questions about exactly what the US government was hoping to achieve with all of these sanctions.
July 30, 2024
You're so full of BS, as a venezuelan myself I just want to say how despicable you are promoting your stupid book in these time when my people is fighting for their freedom ONCE again. Go talk about your fucking gun problem, your healthcare issues or whatever. What a waste...
August 7, 2024
Brilliant. No lies
August 21, 2024
A breath of fresh air
An honest, comprehensive and non-partisan overview of U.S. meddling in Venezuela (and beyond) with the sources provided. This, along with the always morality-based reporting of the Grey Zone, has provided facts, tough realities but also hope for those willing to divorce themselves from the horrific neocon foreign policy that has become the norm.
An honest, comprehensive and non-partisan overview of U.S. meddling in Venezuela (and beyond) with the sources provided. This, along with the always morality-based reporting of the Grey Zone, has provided facts, tough realities but also hope for those willing to divorce themselves from the horrific neocon foreign policy that has become the norm.
February 22, 2025
Meticulously footnoted and is hard to argue against its thesis.
April 15, 2025
A blow-by-blow account of one of the strangest attempted coups in coup history - just come out of the closet and say you're the president, and expect the country to follow. As veteran journalist Parampil shows, this was another-made-in-the-USA "democracy project." Yet it was also a unique Trump-era gameplan: no color-coded, astro-roots "revolution", even in quotation marks. There was to be even no pretense at democracy here.
The gist of it strongly appears to come from conservative US advisors, who were then enamored of the "sovereign legislature" theory. This posits that a legislative body has the right to usurp executive or judicial power when it disagrees with orders from these other two. It was a nostrum engineered by GOP state bodies in the US during the Obama years, to thwart him in Congress and Democratic governors in the states. (Ironically, these same people have abandoned this wrecked ship for another quackery - "unified executive" theory, now that their boy is on top.)
Following this unlicensed prescription, when the conservative MUD opposition coalition (so aptly named!) took control of the Venezuela national assembly, it voted to "choose" a new president - a nobody named Juan Guaido, the Venezuelan Mike Johnson - to declare himself presidential winner. All the usual suspects pulled the wires behind the scenes: US and European embassies, advisors, and media recognized the declaration with no basis in law or precedent. Precisely because Guaido controlled nothing - no state agency or the military - the plan was a pan-flash resting on mere bravado and drained away.
What made this the corporate coup of Parampil's title was the predictable business interests, mostly US but also European, behind it. Hugo Chavez' successor, Nicolas Maduro, had thwarted the legislature's privatization project, especially reasserting control of the national oil industry. This was the real "tyranny" against which the legislature revolted. Never mind a lack of voter mandate: remember it's sovereign, not the people it governs.
One of the more laughable US interventions because it was such total theater and an embarrassing flop, this coup attempt should warn us that dictatorship and oligarchy pull no punches when it comes to power and survival. Should Bernie Sanders and/or AOC ever occupy the White House (assuming there are US elections again) be prepared for this nonsense to be dusted off the toyshelf and wound up for replay.
The gist of it strongly appears to come from conservative US advisors, who were then enamored of the "sovereign legislature" theory. This posits that a legislative body has the right to usurp executive or judicial power when it disagrees with orders from these other two. It was a nostrum engineered by GOP state bodies in the US during the Obama years, to thwart him in Congress and Democratic governors in the states. (Ironically, these same people have abandoned this wrecked ship for another quackery - "unified executive" theory, now that their boy is on top.)
Following this unlicensed prescription, when the conservative MUD opposition coalition (so aptly named!) took control of the Venezuela national assembly, it voted to "choose" a new president - a nobody named Juan Guaido, the Venezuelan Mike Johnson - to declare himself presidential winner. All the usual suspects pulled the wires behind the scenes: US and European embassies, advisors, and media recognized the declaration with no basis in law or precedent. Precisely because Guaido controlled nothing - no state agency or the military - the plan was a pan-flash resting on mere bravado and drained away.
What made this the corporate coup of Parampil's title was the predictable business interests, mostly US but also European, behind it. Hugo Chavez' successor, Nicolas Maduro, had thwarted the legislature's privatization project, especially reasserting control of the national oil industry. This was the real "tyranny" against which the legislature revolted. Never mind a lack of voter mandate: remember it's sovereign, not the people it governs.
One of the more laughable US interventions because it was such total theater and an embarrassing flop, this coup attempt should warn us that dictatorship and oligarchy pull no punches when it comes to power and survival. Should Bernie Sanders and/or AOC ever occupy the White House (assuming there are US elections again) be prepared for this nonsense to be dusted off the toyshelf and wound up for replay.
December 12, 2024
This is an outstanding book. So much information I was not aware of. Of course, corporate media only provides propaganda. The U.S. attempting to overthrow another government is nothing new. From Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution in 1998 to Nicolas Maduro today, the U.S. from the outset as had the Venezuela under siege. A military coup in 2002 to a shadow government of Juan Guaidó to challenge Maduro's government. The U.S. has pillaged the countries international wealth and resources via the illegal shadow government recognized as legit by the U.S., with a phony President that never ran for the office. If the theft of Venezuelan international wealth was not bad enough then the U.S. slaps sanctions on the country to make the people suffer. All this driven by U.S. corporate greed to steal the assets of Venezuela. They did it too through lawfare made possible by the phony government set up in the U.S. Like the legal concept known as alter ego to get at the prized asset Citgo. All the players and events are here. Another shameful and criminal chapter in U.S. history. Well worth the time to read. With more to follow as the siege of Venezuela is not over yet.
July 30, 2024
Lousy. It's just a propaganda pamphlet for a dictatorship.
July 30, 2024
Lousy. It's just a propaganda pamphlet for a dictatorship.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews