Venezuelan oil

"Venezuela is Latin America's biggest exporter of crude oil and has the world's largest petroleum reserves." - Brian Ellsworth and Andrew Cawthorne, Venezuela death toll rises to 13 as protests flare Reuters 02/24/2014

"Venezuela claims the world’s largest proven reserves of petroleum, an estimated 298 billion barrels of oil." - Michael Klare, The Desperate Plight of Petro-States TomDispatch 05/26/2016

Venezuelan Economics Minister Ricardo Menéndez 06/17/2017: "That is the essence of the conflict raised in our country. There, in our Orinoco Belt, is the biggest (primera) oil reserve in the world. It is there, and not in another part of the world. And previously, governments in the country were so complicit that they didn't say it was an oil reserve, they tried to sell it as emulsion, they tried to sell it at the price of coal. The price of coal, it was a price inferior to the real price of the product. Commander [Hugo] Chávez certified with international companies what is in the reserve and it turned out that it is the biggest (primera) oil reserve in the world. The appetite for what is there is the fundamental cause of all the vectors of attack that exist on Venezuela." (Empire Files: Venezuela Economy Minister—Sabotage, Not Socialism, is the Problem, just after 21:00; I've adjusted the English caption's translation in places for what I hope is a better rendition. Menéndez' full title is Vicepresidente del Consejo de Ministros para Planificación y Conocimiento.)