It did not take long for President Trump to change the reason for sending the US military to “arrest” Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The allegation that President Maduro ran a drug cartel was front and center in the months leading up to President Maduro’s “arrest.” Afterwards, President Trump said the invasion was about Venezuela’s oil and announced plans for the US government to send American oil companies into Venezuela.

About a week after the invasion, President Trump had a meeting with executives from American oil companies to discuss plans for Venezuela. Some of the companies’ executives at the meeting were less than enthusiastic about developing Venezuelan oil. One reason for this is that, since the Venezuelan government nationalized oil activities twenty years ago, fracking has made the US the world’s leading producer of oil and natural gas. Rebuilding the oil industry in Venezuela could cost as much as a billion dollars for an uncertain payoff. Among the complications, Venezuelan oil does not easily flow though pipelines unless it is cut with solvents, making it more expensive to transport.

In his first press conference after the Venezuelan first couple was seized, President Trump said: “We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.” He later stated that Maduro’s successor Vice President Delcy Rodriguez would “pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” if she does not adequately fulfill the US government’s demands.