"Donald Trump now says he wants American companies to take over Venezuelan fields in order to extract and sell resources. For weeks, United States President Donald Trump and his officials said the rhetoric and military posturing against Venezuela was aimed at countering the flow of narcotics. But abundant evidence, including Trump's own words in the aftermath of the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro, suggests that Washington's true interest lies in Venezuela's vast proven oil reserves the largest in the world, estimated at about 303 billion barrels."
"The US president initially framed Saturday's attacks on Caracas as an anti-drug operation, with officials calling it an arrest of two indicted fugitives on narcotrafficking charges. Maduro was indicted in the Southern District of New York courts for alleged narco-terrorism conspiracy and cocaine importation conspiracy, among other charges. But within hours of the US attacks on Caracas that killed dozens of civilians, officials and military personnel, Trump pivoted to openly discussing oil and US control of Venezuela."
"In a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, the US president claimed the US would run the country for now, rebuild oil infrastructure, and take out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground to sell to global customers, including rivals China and Russia. Maduro has consistently denied involvement in the drug trade and has accused Washington of using this charge as an excuse to get to oil and other resources, even as the Trump team labelled Venezuelan-trafficked fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction and launched air strikes on boats accused of moving narcotic substances."
US actions toward Venezuela were publicly framed as anti-drug operations, including indictments and arrests tied to narcotrafficking. Within hours of military action that caused civilian casualties, US statements shifted to explicit plans for controlling Venezuelan oil assets and infrastructure. The US president declared intentions to run the country temporarily, rebuild oil infrastructure, and extract vast oil wealth to sell to global customers, naming China and Russia as potential buyers. Venezuelan leaders deny drug involvement and accuse the US of using narcotics charges as a pretext to access petroleum and other resources. The abduction of the president has not yet altered national power structures.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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