Trump's hostile takeover of Venezuela Inc.
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- U.S. military seized Nicolás Maduro from his bedroom in a 2 a.m. raid in early January, after which Trump declared he would "run" Venezuela and installed Delcy Rodríguez, sidelining opposition leader María Corina Machado.
- The corporate-style takeover cost $31 million a day and bypassed Congress, with all Venezuelan oil revenue now routed through American-controlled bank accounts requiring U.S. authorization to access.
- Venezuela's oil exports surged 60% in the month after Maduro's ouster on roughly $500 million in U.S.-brokered sales, and the Treasury Department has since eased sanctions to permit direct oil sales to U.S. companies.
- Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced $100 million in Venezuelan gold was transported to the United States following his Caracas trip, while Trump told Congress in his State of the Union that Venezuela delivered "more than 80 million barrels of oil."
- Diosdado Cabello, a Venezuelan official facing U.S. narco-terror charges and a $25 million reward, remains interior minister and was photographed shaking hands with Burgum during the secretary's Caracas visit this month.
- Political prisoners in Venezuela dropped from roughly 1,000 at the start of January to about 500, with releases spiking whenever Trump or senior U.S. officials publicly raise the issue, according to human-rights group Foro Penal.
- Venezuela's economy is valued at about $80 billion — less than half the 2000 AOL-Time Warner merger — though the opposition had pitched the country's 15-year wealth-creation potential at $1.7 trillion, anchored by oil fields and gold mines.
Why it matters: Trump now controls Venezuelan oil revenue through U.S. bank accounts, and the first month delivered a 60% export surge and $500 million in brokered sales — a concrete return on a $31-million-a-day military operation. But by keeping officials like Diosdado Cabello, who faces U.S. narco-terror charges, in place, Washington is assuming direct responsibility for a regime that still holds roughly 500 political prisoners.
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