US operation in Venezuela puts world’s largest oil reserves back in focus
Operation that removed Nicolás Maduro has revived debate over Washington’s stated objectives, with US officials citing drug-trafficking allegations, while Donald Trump has also spoken openly about access to Venezuela’s energy resources.
- Following a US military operation that resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, President Trump explicitly stated the US would “take back the oil,” directly linking the intervention to Venezuela's resources.
- While the administration's official justification for the military campaign was to combat drug trafficking, Trump's public statements revealed a clear intention to gain access to Venezuela's oil, which holds the world's largest reserves.
- The US rationale for its interest in the oil is partly rooted in the history of American companies developing Venezuela's oil sector before assets were expropriated under former leader Hugo Chávez.
- The operation included a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers, directly targeting the resource as a way to cut off revenue and exert pressure on Maduro's government.
Bloomberg reports that the Trump administration has offered shifting reasons for its months-long military pressure campaign against Venezuela, which ended with the January 3 capture and removal of President Nicolás Maduro and the announcement that he will face prosecution in the United States.
US officials say the core aim is to disrupt illicit narcotics flows into the US, portraying Maduro’s government as a “narco-state” that enables cartels to traffic fentanyl and cocaine.
They accuse Maduro of directing drug trafficking from the top of government, allegations linked to a 2020 indictment filed during Trump’s first term, and describe him as an illegitimate leader posing a national security threat.
That narrative has been used to justify a major escalation: a build-up of US warships, aircraft and troops near Venezuela; strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific that Washington says were run by cartels; a covert strike on an alleged drug-trafficking facility; and a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers travelling to and from Venezuela.
The campaign culminated in a wave of airstrikes and the January 3 capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
While the administration argues that limiting Venezuela’s oil exports cuts off revenue for drug-trafficking groups, Trump has also been explicit about seeking access to Venezuela’s oil, which holds the world’s largest reserves.
After the operation, he said the US would “take back the oil” and suggested it was something America should have claimed long ago.
On the drug claims, the administration has highlighted both fentanyl and cocaine.
Trump said in September 2025 that intercepted boats leaving Venezuela carried enough drugs to kill 25,000 Americans, describing shipments as mostly fentanyl.
However, US authorities say Venezuela plays little to no role in fentanyl entering the US, with most production and export tied to Mexico-based cartels such as Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation, using precursor chemicals imported from China.
Venezuela’s role is seen as larger in cocaine trafficking but still limited: it is used as a transit hub for cocaine produced in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, though only a minority of those routes are believed to be bound for the US.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration says most cocaine entering the US comes via Mexico.
Trump’s argument for the US's entitlement to Venezuelan oil is rooted in the industry’s history.
US companies played a leading role in building Venezuela’s oil sector roughly a century ago, before nationalisation in the mid-1970s and a reopening to foreign investment in the 1990s.
Hugo Chávez later expropriated major US projects in 2007, leading Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips to leave and later win arbitration awards.
Chevron remained and still operates under a restricted US Treasury licence in four joint ventures with state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller framed the expropriations as a major injustice in a December 17 social media post.
The administration may also see political gains beyond drugs and oil.
It has objected to the presence of about 700,000 Venezuelan immigrants in the US who received protections under former president Joe Biden, part of an estimated 7.7 million who left Venezuela amid economic collapse and authoritarian rule.
The administration has moved to revoke those protections but has faced legal challenges; officials argue that improved conditions after Maduro could encourage returns and reduce the need for forced removals.
Finally, officials have linked Maduro’s fall to a broader regional strategy, including pressure on Cuba.
Under Maduro, Venezuela has supplied Cuba with cheap oil, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Havana’s leaders should be concerned about the US operation’s implications.
The Guardian reports that US airstrikes hit targets across Venezuela overnight on Friday, with explosions shaking Caracas before dawn.
Soon after, President Donald Trump announced that US forces had captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flown them out of the country.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the pair would face trial in New York over alleged “narco-terrorism, adding that a new indictment was issued on Saturday.
Trump later posted an image on Truth Social with the caption: Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima.
The operation followed months of intensifying US pressure.
Since September, the US Navy has built up a major presence off Venezuela’s coast, while Washington has carried out airstrikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific and seized Venezuelan oil tankers.
Human rights groups say at least 110 people have been killed in the boat strikes, raising allegations that the attacks could amount to war crimes.
The capture of a sitting president marks the most direct US action in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama, and it stunned allies and rivals alike.
At a Mar-a-Lago news conference, Trump said the US would “run the country” until a leadership transition takes place, and said US oil companies would enter Venezuela, describing the assault as something no other nation could achieve.
Despite Trump’s declarations, the situation on the ground appeared less clear-cut.
Venezuela’s military was still described as holding the country and its assets, leaving the future of the ruling apparatus uncertain even with Maduro in US custody.
How the standoff escalated
Since Trump began his second term, he has pursued what he called a maximum pressure campaign, accusing Maduro of fuelling destabilisation in the Americas through drug trafficking and illegal immigration.
In July, the US announced a US$50m (£37m) bounty on Maduro, calling him one of the world’s leading narco-traffickers.
The administration also designated Venezuelan gangs, including Tren de Aragua, as terrorist organisations.
Washington’s pressure broadened from rhetoric to action: airstrikes against suspected traffickers at sea, seizures of Venezuelan tankers, and a growing US military footprint around the country.
In late November, Trump gave Maduro an ultimatum to give up power, offering safe passage out of Venezuela.
Maduro rejected the offer, accusing the US of trying to seize Venezuela’s oil reserves and saying he did not want “a slave’s peace”.
As pressure mounted, the Venezuelan government at times appeared to swing between defiance and attempts to calm tensions.
Maduro repeatedly said he did not want war with the US, and on Thursday, two days before his capture, he said in a televised interview that he would welcome US investment in Venezuela’s oil sector.
Why are relations so hostile
US–Venezuela relations have been strained since Hugo Chávez took office in 1999, with his socialist, anti-imperialist stance and alliances, including with Cuba and Iran, fuelling confrontation.
The relationship worsened after Chávez alleged US backing for a failed 2002 coup attempt, and as Washington criticised Venezuela’s human rights record and the erosion of democratic institutions.
After Maduro took power in 2013, tensions deepened.
In 2019, under the Trump administration, the US treated Maduro as illegitimate and recognised opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s president.
The Guardian account says Maduro later held on to power after a contested July 2024 election, in which the Biden administration recognised opposition candidate Edmundo González as the winner, citing voting data published by the opposition and reviewed by independent experts.
In early December, the administration published what it called the Trump corollary, asserting US political, economic and military primacy in the western hemisphere, including the use of military power to secure access to energy and mineral resources.
After Maduro’s capture, Trump invoked the Monroe doctrine dubbing his version the “Don-Roe doctrine” and saying American dominance in the region would not be questioned.
Who is Maduro, and what comes next
Maduro, a former bus driver who rose through Chávez’s movement and served as foreign minister, has led Venezuela since 2013.
His government has been widely accused of authoritarian rule, with the UN cited as estimating in 2019 that more than 20,000 Venezuelans were killed in extrajudicial executions.
What happens next remains uncertain.
Venezuela’s defence minister vowed resistance, urging citizens to unite against what was described as a foreign “invasion” and calling it a “fight for freedom”.
Opposition voices, including María Corina Machado, called on Trump to support an uprising.
Trump said Venezuela’s vice-president was in charge for now, while indicating the US was considering Machado’s role.
Analysts warned that “decapitation” scenarios could trigger prolonged chaos, including refugee outflows and rival factions fighting for control, a risk highlighted by Douglas Farah, a Latin America expert involved in past US war-game simulations.
