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Apparently the U.S. intervention in Venezuela to stop drug trafficking, despite the arrest and arraignment of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on narco-trafficking charges, really was all about the oil.

U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned oil more than two dozen times in his Saturday press conference, and said that the United States would now “run” Venezuela to extract its mineral riches in order to compensate U.S. firms for losses incurred in prior expropriations in the 1970s and 2000s. He told reporters over the weekend on Air Force One that he had consulted with U.S. oil companies—though not Congress—before and after the strikes on Venezuela. 

Apparently the U.S. intervention in Venezuela to stop drug trafficking, despite the arrest and arraignment of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on narco-trafficking charges, really was all about the oil.

U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned oil more than two dozen times in his Saturday press conference, and said that the United States would now “run” Venezuela to extract its mineral riches in order to compensate U.S. firms for losses incurred in prior expropriations in the 1970s and 2000s. He told reporters over the weekend on Air Force One that he had consulted with U.S. oil companies—though not Congress—before and after the strikes on Venezuela. 

And Secretary of State and acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the U.S. blockade on Venezuelan oil exports will remain in place until changes are made to enable more U.S. and other international investment in Venezuela’s decrepit oil sector. Rubio added that “we’re pretty certain that there will be dramatic interest from Western companies.”

What’s harder to understand is Trump’s insistence on seizing Venezuela’s oil riches at a time when........

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