A Decolonial View

Johannes Sundstrom

The aim with this text is to demonstrate that the current international world order is neocolonial and necropolitical at its core, by discussing the most recent US military invasion of Venezuela and the subsequent oil grabs in the country, followed by an extensive energy embargo against Cuba in 2026. This text will mainly draw on Achilles Mbembe’s article Necropolitics (2003), Giorgio Agamben’s text Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life (1998), and Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (1963) and his views on violence, especially in the international context.

Necropower can be viewed as the (sovereign’s) ability to determine whose life is “grievable” or not – to borrow a term from Judith Butler (2009). The idea or logic behind necropower could be linked to the sovereign’s (e.g. United States) power to spare or destroy life. Mbembe links together the power of sovereignty and necropower: “In this case, sovereignty means the capacity to define who matters and who does not, who is disposable and who is not.” (Mbembe 2019, 80), where “disposable” aligns with Butler’s argument about whose life is “grievable” or not. Agamben (1998, 15) argues that the power of the “sovereign” lies in its ability to pause or ignore the “validity of law”, which means that the sovereign’s power lies both inside and outside the law (i.e. international law in this case). One could argue that it is through this self-justified “right of exception” and the material and military power that enables these neocolonial actions against Venezuela and subsequent necropolitical actions against Cuba by the United States. Mbembe discusses the connection between sovereignty and the material destruction of populations: “[…] sovereignty whose central project is […] the generalized instrumentalization of human existence and the material destruction of human bodies and populations”. (Mbembe 2003, 14)

In January 2026, we witnessed a short military invasion of Caracas and the kidnapping of Venezuelan president Maduro. An operation which could be described as a “hit and run operation” (Mbembe 2003, 30). Additionally, the subsequent increased influx of American multinational oil companies signals another step towards controlling Venezuelan oil, a country which arguably is sitting on the largest crude oil reserves globally. The short military invasion and kidnapping were condemned by the United Nations Security Council, however, given the US’s veto power, any resolution that would condemn or “legally” bind them by international law for their actions would always be blocked. The United States, could through the veto, “uphold” its “right of exception” in terms of their neocolonial practices in Venezuela. The fact that the United States colonized Venezuela’s oil reserves seemed to have slipped the minds of mainstream media right up until recently (September 2026). Earlier this year, US-owned Bloomberg News even reported on February 20th, 2026, and called it: “the US effort to rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry” (Bloomberg News, 2026). However, more recently as stated, other big media outlets, including BBC (2026) and Qatari Al Jazeera (2026) recently started to question these US oil projects in Venezuela. The question is, why did it take so long to start reflecting over these neo-colonial actions carried out by the United States in January of this year?

This year we have also witnessed the consequences with US oil grabs in Venezuela, especially in Cuba. Cuba used to receive much of its energy supplies (through oil) from Venezuela, which now has been abruptly stopped by the US in recent months (January 2026). This has caused major disruptions to daily life and Cuban livelihoods. In September 2026, during the latest UN General Assembly, the Cuban Foreign Minister Rodriguez called the US energy and oil blockade an act of “collective punishment” (UN News 2026). In this case, one could argue that the US carries out necropolitical energy blockades against Cuba and its population by denying them energy resources (i.e. oil), essential for survival. The US president did not even attempt to hide his view on the situation in Cuba during a speech on March 7 in 2026 when he said that Cuba is “in its last moments of life” (France24 2026, 9:42).

These actions can arguably be linked to the concept or “bare-life” (Agamben 1998) where one could claim that the United States considers the Cuban population “disposable” (Mbembe 2019) and “nongrievable” (Butler 2009). However, we must remember that we are simply witnessing a continuation of blockades and embargoes against Cuba and its population since the early 1960s following the Cuban Revolution during the Cold War. Fast-forwarding to today’s political rhetoric, the argumentation hasn’t changed. Cuban communism is existentially dangerous for the US, (a similar argument used against socialist Venezuela), therefore, the United States justifies its neocolonial and necropolitical actions through a “rhetoric of modernity” and the promise of “progress” (Mignolo 2019), by repeating over and over again that Venezuela and Cuba are failed states and that they need saving. The “saviour” just happens to be the United States.

This “promise of progress” has been repeated many times, both in Venezuela regarding its oil production and US multinational oil companies and in Cuba, since US officials often refer to Cuba as a “failed state” led by “incompetent communists” (Bloomberg News 2026, 0:55), which needs “saving”. Mbembe explains that “[…] the two narratives are incompatible […]” (Mbembe 2003, 27) and the two narratives being capitalism and communism, which once more reminds us of a post-Cold War environment. However, it is often used in the context to justify what Mbembe refers to as the “[…] state of siege […]” when “[…] Entire populations are the target of the sovereign. The besieged villages and towns are sealed off and cut off from the world.” (Mbembe 2003, 30). In this case, the “besieged villages and towns” are the Cuban population in Cuban cities, villages and towns, and they are the target of the “sovereign” (i.e. United States).

Perhaps Fanon (1963, 29) was right when he said that the (neocolonial, my emphasis) colonial world was a divided or compartmentalized world. Fanon also discusses the American sanctions and embargoes against Castro’s Cuba back in the 1960s and explains that “These former colonies [Latin America, my emphasis] since their liberation have suffered the brazen-faced rule of Western capitalism in terror and destitution” (Fanon 1963, 76, footnote). Fanon refers to newly independent countries in the Americas, and since the US basically took control over Cuba after the Spanish-American War in the late 19th century, Cuba has been at the mercy of the United States, up until its revolution in 1959 and continious to be through blockades, sanctions and embargoes.

To conclude, if we apply Fanon’s thinking to the international system (as with the case of Venezuela and Cuba today), we can see that the United States (i.e. the sovereign) continuously creates and consolidates a compartmentalized and divided neo-colonial world in the Americas, through trade embargoes, energy blockades and oil grabs. Already in the 1960s, Fanon observed and foresaw the extended suffering of the Cuban people (Fanon 1963, 77, footnote) which we still witness today. Whether these actions are considered necropolitical or neo-colonial, I will leave it up to the reader to decide, however, one thing is certain. Venezuelan oil is no longer in the hands of Venezuela and through the continuous energy blockade against Cuba, the US president considers Cuban lives “disposable” and “non-grievable” as we have seen in his speeches and the US has reduced the Cuban population to “barelife” as they continue to be at the mercy of the sovereign, the United States.

References

Agamben, Giorgio. 1998. Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, translated by Daniel HellerRoazen (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), 15–67.

Al Jazeera. “Why are people calling Venezuela oil deal a new form of US colonialism?”. September 1, 2006. https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/9/3/aje-onl-nf_us-venezuela-oildeal_colonialism-030926.

BBC. “Remarkable US Oil deal puzzles analysts and angers many Venezuelans”. September 1, 2006. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93vkgk5e1yo.

Bloomberg News. “Is Cuba Finally Ready for Capitalism?” Published August 16, 2026. Accessed September 30, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWMrdf_ToJk&t=300s.

Butler, Judith. Frames of War: When is Life Grievable? London: Verso, 2009.

Fanon, Frantz. 1963 (2001). The Wretched of the Earth. Translated by Constance Farrington. Penguin Books.

France 25 English. “Cuba could collapse. Here is what Trump wants”. August 3, 2026. Accessed September 29, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_NTF1sqZGo.

Mbembe, Achille. “Necropolitics.” Public Culture, vol. 15, no. 1, 2003, pp. 11–40, https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-15-1-11.

Mbembe, Achille. 2019. “Necropolitics”. Public Culture vol.15, no. 1.

Mignolo, Walter D., and Walsh, Catherine E. 2018. On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis. Durham: Duke University Press. Accessed on April 7, 2026. ProQuest Ebook Central

United Nations News. “Cuba warns against ‘law of the jungle’ as Foreign Minister denounces US pressure” September 26, 2006, New York. https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/09/1168458