Trump’s Venezuela Oil Play Comes Into Focus

“Forget talk about elections and democracy in Venezuela. The Trump administration has a simple goal there: Back a pro-U.S. government — and prop it up with millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil,” Axios reports.

“The plan hinges on the U.S. taking de facto control of oil production in Venezuela, which has the largest crude reserves in the world but has been crippled by the twin forces of kleptocracy and U.S. sanctions.”

“Such a raw exercise of U.S. imperial force hasn’t been seen in modern times. It became clear Saturday with the seizure of Venezuela’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, for alleged drug trafficking.”

Washington Post: Oil companies in talks with White House on how to drill in Venezuela.