Pardons, Power, and Petroleum

When the United States treats two Latin American leaders in radically different ways, it raises a simple question: what really drives U.S. foreign policy—justice or strategic interest?

In Honduras, former president Juan Orlando Hernández was extradited to the United States, convicted in federal court for large-scale drug trafficking and weapons offenses, and sentenced to decades in prison for helping facilitate the flow of cocaine into the U.S. while in office. Despite the severity of the crimes and the sentence, his conviction was ultimately wiped away through a U.S. presidential pardon.

Venezuela, meanwhile, has been treated very differently. After years of sanctions and indictments, the United States moved beyond pressure and captured Venezuela’s president outright.

This difference isn’t really about morality. It’s about leverage.

Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves in the world. That single fact transforms its internal political failures into a global issue. Oil shapes energy prices, inflation, and geopolitical power. A hostile or unpredictable government controlling that resource is treated not as a domestic problem, but as a strategic risk.

Honduras, while important, does not carry that weight. Without massive strategic resources, even extreme corruption at the highest levels does not provoke the same level of sustained international response.

If drug trafficking and corruption were truly the primary drivers of U.S. policy, enforcement would look more consistent across the region. Instead, pressure escalates where core interests—especially energy—are at stake.

The Venezuelan crisis is often framed as ideological or humanitarian, but beneath those narratives lies a harder truth: oil turns sovereignty into strategy.

Until global dependence on energy resources changes, countries that control them will continue to face intense external pressure—not necessarily because they are worse, but because they matter more.

This was never about drugs but about OIL.