ABSTRACT
Drawing on a long history of colonial and hygienic practices in the Global South, this chapter examines how, under the auspices of the governments of both Venezuela and the United States, oil magnate Nelson A. Rockefeller positioned oil-rich Venezuela as an international pilot project that instrumentalized food production over oil to expand capitalism’s reach in the Global South while exercising his altruistic inclinations toward a country he loves. Spanning three decades, it narrates the ways Rockefeller, fearing that Venezuela would nationalize its oil industry, masterminded the use of Venezuelan oil camps as laboratories for agricultural production and consumption—through diplomacy, oil, and capital—thus creating a comprehensive system and a seamless aesthetic of a sterilized and rationalized rurality, centered on food. This enterprise was, in essence, compensation for the monopolistic, lucrative oil exploitation that culturally, politically, and economically transformed Venezuela. This compensatory model climaxed in 1947 when Rockefeller established the International Basic Economy Corporation (IBEC)—a private global initiative with a focus on food and housing that targeted Venezuela as its main laboratory. Two decades later this undertaking, which created a thriving network of modern supermarkets, was decimated by violence and widespread dissatisfaction in a country still fighting hunger and inequality.
