Sometimes, big capital is ominously effective in covering up its dastardly deeds with smokescreens and mirrors.

And sometimes – in a flex of raw, unbridled power – it’s not effective.

A mere six days after the bombing of Caracas, Exxon CEO Darren Woods told Trump that “significant changes” were needed in Venezuela’s laws to ensure investment. ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance echoed that, demanding a “complete rewiring” of Venezuela’s economy: “We need to be also thinking about even restructuring the entire Venezuelan energy system, including [state oil firm] PDVSA.”

Fast-forward a whole 20 days (yeah!), and Trump’s darling “interim president” Delcy Rodriguez and her brother Jorge – who heads the legislative assembly – put on their US-made dancing shoes and obediently started tip-tapping and hip-swinging to the oil execs’ favorite beats, rolling out express rollbacks to the ABC of Venezuela’s legal framework.

The message to potential US investors was crystal clear: “Those who think, believe, based on the numbers and the analyses, that this is a good time and that Venezuela is a good place to invest, should know that they have guarantees, legal security, political security, stability, and peace of mind so that their investments can develop extensively,” Delcy told her new Gringo pals in March. ‘Develop’, she said.

The rapidity of the Rodriguezes’ response to the US energy CEOs’ appeal, combined with the sweeping and opaque nature of the rollbacks, passed by a pantomime National Assembly full of yes-men without any – yes, any – debate, that demolish key advances achieved under Chavez, leaves no doubt about who now rules this Latin American roost. It’s one thing for US oil execs to dictate to a foreign government, but having that government carry out your diktats within 20 days, now that’s just a flex!

So how has the  legislative pantomime  of the Rollback Rodriguezes unfolded?

First Act – Oil

As with all good theater, the first act was hard-hitting, bold and attention-grabbing.

The Hydrocarbons Law is arguably the most important piece of legislation in Venezuela after the Constitution, having been modified by Chavez in 2001 and later 2006-7 to safeguard public control over the subsoil, exploration, extraction and sale of oil resources, including landing huge royalties and taxes.

It took the Rodriguezes just 26 days to undo all that.

According to US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the law’s change was a “symbol of the desire to drive reform and move the country in a positive direction,” sparking prized OFAC licenses [OFAC, the Office of Foreign Assets Control is the branch of the US Treasury Department that administers and enforces  sanctions] to firms such as BP, Chevron, Shell, and Repsol to return to Venezuela.

But Venezuela’s revolutionary grassroots begs to differ, describing it as a “historic setback in the defense of national sovereignty”, the “dismantling of the Bolivarian project”, and the day that Venezuela “ceased to own its oil in any sense that matters.”

The reform opens the door further for private oil firms to invest and manage primary oil activities (exploration, extraction, transporting, storing), undoing the 49/51% private/public balance imposed by Chavez. It even allows minority private actors to assume “integral management” of a mixed oil project over majority state ones.

It lets private firms manage direct marketing and sales of their oil quotas in line with their business models and interests through foreign bank accounts. Oil sales were previously reserved to the Venezuelan state in accordance with national interests.

It paves the way for conflict resolution in international courts, undercutting and potentially contradicting the sovereignty and predominance of Venezuela’s legal code over its own resources.

It removes the 30% oil royalty that went to the Venezuelan state to fund social projects. This has been replaced with “up to 30%” to be set by the government, meaning royalties could be as low as 1% for “best friends forever.”

It also removes extraction taxes and allows the previous 50% income tax for oil operations to be subject to the government’s same opaque discretion.

While the law certainly breaks new ground in razing Venezuela’s oil sovereignty to the ground, it should be noted that its merely a double-down on what Delcy’s predecessor started.

Since 2016, Maduro rolled-out an opening up of the oil industry by offering lucrative tax breaks, shady closed-door contracting processes, and in some cases even breaking the 49%/51% private/public balance. It was also Maduro who initially proposed reforming the Hydrocarbons Law.

Second Act – Mines

The second act begins with suit-clad bandits visiting Caracas. First, Wright and a bunch of energy CEOs on February 11, then Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and another bunch of energy CEOs on March 4. Both talked mines to Delcy while the Venezuelans cried “booooo”.

US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright meets Delcy Rodriguez, days before important legislation was approved in Venezuela (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Two days after Burgum’s visit, OFAC lauded another carrot, allowing US firms to work with Venezuela’s state mining firm Minerven. This proved to be sufficient for Jorge Rodriguez to push the National Assembly to rubber-stamp the Mining Law’s reform just 48 hours later.

In the words of PSUV deputy Orlando Camacho, the reform seeks to “attract national and foreign capital by establishing legal guarantees” for their money. Isn’t that kinda what Exxon’s Darren Woods asked Trump to do in Venezuela in January?

The reform opens up extensive 30-year extraction concessions for foreign-based private firms, essentially destroying state control over the sector and undoing Chavez’s 2011 gold nationalization.

In the words of US legal giant Holland & Knight, “foreign investors will [now] have a legal framework that is much clearer and secure that allows them to, among other things, develop profitable projects.”

The reform also promotes ecologically-dangerous artisanal mining that was regulated in the previous law; it allows disputes to be settled in international courts; and it permits gold sales to be handled by private firms rather than the Central Bank.

In fiscal policy, it deregulates royalties and taxes, which will now be “up to 6%”.  That is, they could be 0% for best friends forever.

Third Act – Labor

The reform to Venezuela’s famous and ground-breaking 2012 Labor Law is happening – after all, no pantomime is complete without the heroes facing a bit of toil.

We don’t know what it says, yet, but in a May 11 interview, Labor Minister Carlos Castillo revealed that the reform “seeks a system that is truly sustainable for the country, the business sector and for workers. We cannot continue with the lie, the lie of social coverage.”

He also mentioned that the popular “workplace immobility” clause, which prevents pregnant women from getting sacked while on maternity leave, for example, should be “reviewed” and replaced with the concept of “workplace stability.”

Castillo also called for the pension system to be “restructured.” Yeah.

Business federation Fedecamaras is reportedly pushing for legal recognition of zero-hour contracts, remote working, and contractual deregulation, while there are strong rumors it might legalize the government’s detested wage destruction.

Trade unions, as can be expected, are not happy – which is probably why they were not granted a part in this play.

Fourth Act – Taxes

Nothing says “come and screw us” like lowering foreign capital’s tax burden.  As with the Labor Law, the actual content of this reform is a mystery, but it’s going ahead.

Business sectors are lobbying hard for lower business taxes, while others have suggested it may open up fiscal loopholes, amnesties and grant greater tax relief to firms.

The current taxes on large transactions or dollar-based trade may also be removed.

For her part, Delcy has called for “a more competitive system, a tax model that is more efficient, simpler procedures and that strengthens national production,” once again mentioning “legal security” and “macroeconomic stability.” Read into that what you may.

Deputies vote in Venezuela’s National Assembly (AVN)

Fifth Act – Electricity

Venezuela’s National Assembly approved an electoral reform on June 2 that will ”introduce” 25-year  concessions to private firms for the generation, transmission and sale of electricity, 15 years after being nationalized by Chavez.

Delcy has gone on the record appealing to US firms Siemens USA and General Electric to “solve” the crippling power cuts in the west of the country.

Curtain Call

This pantomime of legislative rollbacks has drawn scathing reviews and zero laughs from the Venezuelan working class, which is starting to understand – and resist – the US tutelage.

As I wrote in the last Venezuela Flex column: “Delcy intends to continue her predecessor’s 2018 policy that looks to make Venezuela an investment paradise for foreign capital with maybe the cheapest labor force in the world, all at the expense of a tired and exasperated workforce.”

Yet no one could have predicted the pace of the rollbacks that caught the masses dozing. What’s done is done (until it’s undone by a revolution), and what’s to come (especially the Labor Law reform) will hopefully spark a fight.

All the while, US oil execs enjoy the show, sipping their champagne and calculating their profit margins from afar amid their macho power trip flex of watching Delcy skip and dance to their legislative agenda.