US president claims US will take back oil stolen from it by Venezuela, but experts say no legal claim to natural reserves exists
Venezuela crisis – latest updates
Hailing the US military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro as spectacular, extraordinary, and “an assault not seen since World War II”, Donald Trump surprised many by making Venezuela’s oil the central focus of his hour-long press conference on Saturday.
The US president made little mention of the “war on drugs” that for months had been his main justification for the military build-up and the strikes on boats that have killed 116 people, instead referring to oil more than a dozen times, even when questions made no reference to it.
Trump’s insistence ended up reinforcing a claim repeatedly made by Venezuela since the escalation began: that Trump was ultimately seeking to topple Maduro and seize the country’s vast natural reserves.
