Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

The U.S. Operation Absolute Resolve to capture and kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is quite possibly one of the most unprecedented military operations to ever be carried out. While the facts on the ground are still not completely clear, we can at least establish why the Trump administration decided to remove Nicolás Maduro from power.

“Classic U.S. Imperialism”

Conventional wisdom tells us that the primary motivation was to secure American access or control over Venezuela’s oil. Oil is a major factor — but it’s actually secondary. Venezuelan oil was used by the Trump administration to sell the intervention to a skeptical political and business class. In other words, from Donald Trump’s perspective, a military operation to oust Maduro was worthwhile because American multinationals will profit from the oil bonanza that would come afterward.

But the truth is that the United States does not need Venezuela’s oil. The U.S. is, after all, the world’s largest producer of petroleum — averaging a record-setting 13.5 million barrels per day in 2025 — and a net exporter of energy supplies.

There is also no market imperative to justify an oil grab for the purpose of bringing more Venezuelan petroleum online. The global demand for oil is currently not outstripping global supply, and prices are on the decline. In fact, not only is there a glut in the international market right now, but more oil is expected to slosh around the global economy later this year. The integrity of the international oil market is safe and sound, and scarcity in global supplies of energy are nowhere near the horizon.

However, the primary motive for ousting Maduro was revealed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an interview he gave to NBC’s Meet the Press. “What we’re not going to allow is........

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