Trump Orders Big Oil Into Venezuela: ‘Do It for Our Country’

The US embassy in Caracas sprawls across a lush hilltop, visible across the city, and for years just about the only people who set foot in it were cleaners. Now it’s powering up again — envisaged as the hub of President Donald Trump’s hemispheric oil empire.

This week has seen a frantic push toward the goals the president outlined after the capture of Nicolás Maduro: Vassalize Venezuela, and convert the world’s biggest crude reserves into US might. The Trump administration confiscated two more tankers and announced it would take delivery of millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil. There were non-stop ...