<
https://theconversation.com/before-venezuelas-oil-there-were-guatemalas-bananas-272973>
"In the aftermath of the U.S. military strike that seized Venezuelan President
Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, 2026, the Trump administration has emphasized its
desire for unfettered access to Venezuela’s oil more than conventional foreign
policy objectives, such as combating drug trafficking or bolstering democracy
and regional stability.
During his first news conference after the operation, President Donald Trump
claimed oil companies would play an important role and that the oil revenue
would help fund any further intervention in Venezuela.
Soon after, “Fox & Friends” hosts asked Trump about this prediction.
“We have the greatest oil companies in the world,” Trump replied, “the biggest,
the greatest, and we’re gonna be very much involved in it.”
As a historian of U.S.-Latin American relations, I’m not surprised that oil or
any other commodity is playing a role in U.S. policy toward the region. What
has taken me aback, though, is the Trump administration’s openness about how
much oil is driving its policies toward Venezuela.
As I’ve detailed in my 2026 book, “Caribbean Blood Pacts: Guatemala and the
Cold War Struggle for Freedom,” U.S. military intervention in Latin America has
largely been covert. And when the U.S. orchestrated the coup that ousted
Guatemala’s democratically elected president in 1954, the U.S. covered up the
role that economic considerations played in that operation."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
