Donald Trump has reportedly ended all diplomatic outreach to Venezuela, instructing envoy Richard Grenell to cease all efforts as he grows frustrated with authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro’s reluctance to relinquish power.
Trump is also frustrated that Maduro keeps rejecting any ties with drug cartels, The New York Times reported. Officials told the outlet that the administration has drawn up multiple military plans for an eventual escalation.
Venezuela must have a resource that Trump or one of his donors wants. Google “banana wars”.
Don’t they have a pretty sizeable oil patch? I know it’s really dirty oil, but one of the countries down that way has a huge oil field.
Venezuela’s petroleum deposits are oil sands, very deep underground under old growth rainforest. Oil sands are mined, not pumped like conventional oil, so it would require ripping up all that old growth rainforest so that they can start digging. For that reason Venezuela’s oil patch is one of the last on earth that’s mostly untapped, and you know the American government is drooling at the idea of getting their hands on it.
Here’s what mining oil sands looks like in Alberta (Canada) as a visualizer: