U.S. Congresswoman Maria Salazar has openly called on the United States to “go in” to Venezuela so that American oil companies can exploit the world’s largest crude reserves of the South American country.
In a Fox Business interview earlier this week, Florida Representative Salazar openly argued that the US must invade Venezuela so American oil corporations can profit from its massive petroleum reserves, the largest on the planet.
She said if Washington topples Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, US companies will enjoy a “field day” worth over a trillion dollars in economic activity – laying bare that the push for confrontation has little to do with democracy or security and everything to do with controlling Venezuelan oil.
“Venezuela, for those Americans who do not understand why we need to go in … Venezuela, for the American oil companies, will be a field day, because it will be more than a trillion dollars in economic activity,” Salazar said.
To bolster her argument, the congresswoman launched into a series of strange accusations—asserting, without providing evidence, that Venezuela harbors groups hostile to the US, and even claiming that Maduro is distributing “uranium to Hamas, to Iran, to North Korea, and to Nicaragua.”
She also revived the long-debunked “Cartel of the Suns” narrative, which Washington now uses as a convenient label to justify intervention but Caracas insists that such a group does not exist at all.
Adding to the chorus, opposition figure María Corina Machado has echoed Washington’s allegations about Maduro, even claiming he interfered in US elections, in an attempt to entice the US into an invasion.
The Venezuelan president says the US ‘cannot defeat’ his ‘invincible’ country amid growing tensions with Washington.
On Tuesday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro also stressed that “oil is at the heart of” US pressure campaign on Venezuela.
“So, that’s a negotiation about oil. I believe that is (US President Donald) Trump’s logic. He’s not thinking about the democratization of Venezuela, let alone the narco-trafficking,” he further told CNN in an exclusive interview.
Petro stressed that Venezuela is not considered a major drug producer and that only a relatively small portion of the global drugs trade flows through the country.
He added that the US is trying to impose its will on its neighbors in an imperialistic manner.
“The United States cannot be considered an empire, but one of the nations among others,” the Colombian president said.
Colombia has for years served as Washington’s most dependable security and defense partner in South America, and in 2022 the Joe Biden administration elevated it to the status of a “major non-NATO ally.”
Since late August, Washington has sent warships, surveillance aircraft, and special operations units to the southern Caribbean, culminating this month with the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group.
The US has since launched dozens of strikes on vessels, killing more than 80 people, claiming they were drug traffickers, while failing to provide any evidence to back up the claims. Legal experts have condemned the US military’s extrajudicial killing of victims as unlawful.
Although US military activity across Latin America has expanded with Marines, warships, aircraft, submarines, and drones deployed, reports suggest Trump may attempt direct talks with his Venezuelan counterpart as Maduro has reportedly reiterated his readiness for a “face-to-face” dialogue with Washington.
IMAGE CREDIT: Internet file photo
[ SOURCE: teleSUR ]
