By Manlio Dinucci
On 3 January, President Trump announced from his Mar-a-Lago residence:
“On my direct orders, the United States Armed Forces have conducted an extraordinary military operation in the Venezuelan capital to bring the outlaw dictator Nicolás Maduro to justice. He and his wife, who was also arrested, will now face criminal proceedings based on a 2020 indictment by the US Department of Justice for multiple federal crimes, including narco-terrorism and drug trafficking.”
The real purpose of this large-scale military operation, involving 150 aircraft and helicopters, warships, and special forces, is to seize control of Venezuela’s oil reserves. The country has the largest oil reserves in the world. After US forces kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the substantial military presence deployed by the US in the Caribbean region – consisting of 15,000 troops, aircraft and warships – serves as a warning to the Venezuelan authorities to act in a manner favourable to the United States, to avoid the risk of a “second wave of attacks”. This force also serves to impose a “quarantine” around Venezuela, preventing oil tankers from entering and leaving the country. In terms of its international implications, the most serious incident was the “seizure” of a Russian-flagged oil tanker escorted by a Russian submarine.
According to the Pentagon, the ship was seized in the North Atlantic, between Scotland and Iceland, for “violating US sanctions”. The ship, which was not carrying oil, had previously attempted to reach Venezuela to load crude oil, managing to evade US forces for over two weeks.
On 7 January, Trump announced on Truth Social:
“I am pleased to announce that the interim authorities of Venezuela will deliver between 30 and 50 million barrels of high-quality oil, subject to sanctions, to the United States of America. This oil will be sold at market price, and the proceeds will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure that it is used for the benefit of the citizens of Venezuela and the United States! I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to immediately implement this plan. The oil will be transported by tankers and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States.”
At the same time, several US oil companies announced that they want compensation from Venezuela – Conoco Phillips for 12 billion, Exxon Mobil for 20 billion dollars – for damages suffered when, in 2007, President Hugo Chávez expropriated the assets of foreign oil companies that had refused to restructure their holdings to grant majority control to Petroleos de Venezuela, the Venezuelan National Company. This means that the small portion of oil revenues that would be used “for the benefit of the citizens of Venezuela,” as Trump stated, would be even more limited and would go almost exclusively to the Venezuelan elites who guarantee US interests, rather than to the citizens themselves.
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Manlio Dinucci, award-winning author, geopolitical analyst and geographer, Pisa, Italy. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
11 January 2026
Source: globalresearch.ca