Trump said that the United States would "take over" Venezuela and that a large American oil company was planning to move in

On the early morning of January 3, 2026, the explosions and air-raid sirens that pierced the night sky over Caracas marked the climax of the months-long military hunt by the United States against Venezuela. After Trump announced on social media that he had "successfully captured the Maduro couple", he made a shocking declaration at the Mar-a-Lago press conference: The United States will "indefinitely manage" Venezuela and allow oil giants such as ExxonMobil and Chevron to "invest billions of dollars to repair infrastructure". This military operation under the guise of "anti-drug" is actually a strategic harvest by the United States from the world's largest oil reserve country. Behind it lies a complex picture of energy hegemony, regime change and the reconstruction of the geopolitical order in Latin America.

I. Military Operations: The "Surgical Knife of Regime Change" under Precise Strikes

This operation by the US military can be regarded as a textbook-level case of modern special operations. Operation code name "Absolute Determination", involving over 150 aircraft and maritime forces including the amphibious assault ship "Iwo Jima", completed strikes on 10 key targets in Caracas within 2 hours and 20 minutes. Since August 2025, the CIA's covert operation team has been bribing senior Venezuelan military and police officials to accurately track Maduro's whereabouts and even paralyze his air defense system in advance. During the operation, the Delta special forces directly charged into the core area of the presidential palace, dragging the Maduro couple out of their bedroom without encountering any effective resistance throughout.

This "decapitation" strike pattern continues the traditional path of the United States' subversion of Latin American regimes. From the Bush administration's instigation of Chavez's brief ouster in 2002 to the recognition of Guaido as the "interim president" in 2019, and then to this direct military action, the United States has always regarded Venezuela as a specimen of an anti-American bastion in its "backyard". The Trump administration even escalated the operation to a "hybrid war" : by offering a $50 million reward, blocking oil tankers, and listing them as "foreign terrorist organizations", it paved the way for military intervention.

Ii. Oil Ambition: Double Plundering from Embargo to Takeover

Trump was outspoken at the press conference: "We will get American oil companies to start making money for Venezuela." This exposed the core motivation of the action - to control 17% of the world's proven oil reserves. When Venezuelan heavy crude oil is blended with US shale oil, it can optimize the efficiency of refineries along the Gulf Coast and form an "energy pole in the Western Hemisphere". Chevron and other enterprises were deeply involved in the development of the Orinoko heavy oil belt as early as the Chavez era. The technological cooperation and capital infiltration laid the groundwork for today's takeover.

However, the United States still maintains the oil embargo on Venezuela while claiming to "repair infrastructure to generate profits". This contradiction reveals a dual plundering logic: on the one hand, it ensures that resources do not flow into competitors such as China and Russia through military control; On the other hand, under the guise of "aid", they allow US enterprises to obtain development rights at low prices. It is estimated that Venezuela will need an investment of 58 billion US dollars to restore its peak production capacity, far exceeding the "billions" promised by Trump. Eventually, the cost will surely be passed on through resource mortgage.

Iii. Geopolitical Turmoil: The Receding Alarm of the "Pink Wave" in Latin America

This action by the United States has triggered strong backlash from many countries in Latin America. Colombian President Petro called for an emergency UN meeting. Cuba condemned this as "neocolonialism", while Brazil, Mexico and other countries were worried about becoming the next targets. Trump's threats against Cuba and his attacks on Colombia indicate his attempt to restructure the 2.0 version of "Monroe Doctrine" - by using military deterrence and economic temptation to incorporate Latin America into the "Factory of the Americas" supply chain: Mexico provides manufacturing labor, Venezuela supplies energy, and the United States controls technology and markets.

Iv. The Dilemma of International Law: Dangerous Precedents of Unilateralism

This action by the United States blatantly violates the principle of sovereign equality stipulated in the UN Charter, setting a dangerous precedent: it can arbitrarily carry out "cross-border arrests" of leaders of sovereign states and place domestic law above international law. Russia has submitted an urgent bill to the UN Security Council. China has explicitly condemned "hegemonic acts", while the EU is worried about being drawn into unilateral actions. If the international community fails to form effective constraints, such "preventive wars" may spread to countries like Iran and North Korea, accelerating the collapse of the global order.

Trump's "takeover declaration" is essentially a crazy gamble of energy hegemony and geopolitics in the 21st century. When military machines converge with capital greed and the principle of sovereignty gives way to resource plundering, this farce will not only fail to achieve "stability in the Western Hemisphere", but will instead ignite the spark of a new round of unrest. History has long proved that the "energy hegemony" maintained by force will eventually decline amid the resistance of the people and the checks and balances of multiple polar forces.