Trump makes it clear shocking Venezuelan regime change is largely about oil: ‘They stole our oil … We’re going to make a lot of money’

President Donald Trump confirmed the startling attacks in Venezuela and the arrest of leader Nicolás Maduro were largely about its vast oil reserves—not just drugs and immigration—arguing that American oil companies will rebuild the Venezuelan crude industry to compensate the U.S. financially and enrich the Venezuelan people.

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies—the biggest anywhere in the world—go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Trump said during a press conference on Saturday.

“We’re going to have a presence in Venezuela as it pertains to oil,” Trump said. “We’re going to be taking a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground.”

Although smaller gains could come more quickly, energy analysts emphasize it will take years—likely close to a decade—to truly rebuild the Venezuelan oil sector and dramatically boost exports, ensuring U.S. ensnarement in Venezuela for a long time.

While scant on details, Trump said Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez is in charge for now, but that “she really doesn’t have a choice” and must follow the White House’s orders until ...