Where Data Tells the Story
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In the aftermath of the U.S. military operation that saw Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro captured and extracted to the United States, President Donald Trump has been remarkably open about the motives behind the raid. While the Trump Administration spoke a lot about drug trafficking and narco terrorism in the run-up to last week’s military operation, many of the actions taken since Maduro’s capture suggest that oil was the real reason behind it.
While Maduro has in fact been charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy and conspiracy to import cocaine, the administration’s plans to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry under an energy deal announced unilaterally just days after the raid, suggests that direct access to the country’s vast oil reserves was the primary motive behind the legally dubious operation. The fact that President Trump admitted to speaking to U.S. oil companies “before and after” the raid further indicates this.
According to a recent YouGov survey, the majority of Americans also believe that oil was a major reason for the military action against Venezuela, although there is a stark partisan divide in what people believe the true motivations were. While Republicans largely follow the official party line, naming “preventing drug trafficking”, “removing corrupt leadership from power” and “preventing terrorism” as the three main reasons behind the military intervention, most Democrats believe that the operation was about three things: “increasing U.S. access to oil”, “distracting Americans from domestic issues” and “increasing U.S. power globally”.