The geopolitical drama unfolding with respect to Venezuela is loaded with opportunity and fraught with political risk arising from both Venezuelan and U.S. government actions. The country is still headed by a regime the U.S. government officially does not recognize, while a government that the United States does recognize stands on the outside seeking U.S. support to assume the reins. The President has stated that the U.S. has assumed “control” of Venezuela—and invites U.S. businesses to make massive investments on the ground—while the unrecognized Venezuelan government oscillates between official rejection and cooperation with U.S. political initiatives. Moreover, Venezuela has a history of expropriating assets, particularly in the oil and gas sector, and many state-owned companies have defaulted on significant payables to service companies that are essential participants in the efforts to rebuild and restore the Venezuelan infrastructure and economy.
Faced with such uncertainty, how might a U.S. business interested in making Venezuelan investments mitigate its risks? Political Risk Insurance is one way to help mitigate risk.
Over the weekend of January 24-25, 2026, Winter Storm Fern struck a vast swathe of the Eastern United States and Canada. The storm is likely to have had—and for some days to come will continue to have—a vast impact on businesses, governments and a host of human activities. According to 
Companies in certain industries have years and even decades of experience in defending and resolving “long-tail” liabilities for suits, claims and other proceedings—such as for asbestos-related disease or environmental-related third-party property damage—that involve bodily injuries or property damage spanning multiple years arising out of their historical operations.
General and products liability policies are a cornerstone of risk management for businesses, providing protection against alleged liability because of bodily injury, property damage, and personal or advertising injury claims. These policies are often paired with self-insured retentions (SIRs). Although some policies with SIRs may provide “first dollar” coverage, particularly for defense costs, an SIR typically represents the amount of covered loss a company agrees to pay out of pocket before the primary layer insurer’s coverage attaches. While common, SIRs can introduce many traps for the unwary—especially if the SIR is applied on a “per-occurrence” basis (or, in some policies, a “per-claim” basis) without an aggregate cap.
It’s said that an ant can carry fifty times its own weight. That’s nothing.
When wildfires, floods or other disasters strike, multiple policyholders can be affected in similar ways. But historically, each policyholder would take on their insurance company alone—a tough task, especially for individual policyholders and especially when any given policyholder’s claim is dwarfed by the relative legal and financial might of the insurer. The recent ruling in