04 Jan 2026, 01:57 PM IST i Trump assumes US control “The United States of America has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement. Details to follow. …… Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Donald Trump said on his social media account, Truth Social, on Saturday. Trump said US oil companies will spend billions of dollars to rebuild Venezuela’s crumbling energy infrastructure after a military operation that led to the capture of Nicolas Maduro, the country’s former leader. During a press conference Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump described an ambitious vision to use US financial resources and industry knowhow to restore the South American nation’s oil sector to its former glory. “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies — the biggest anywhere in the world — go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure — the oil infrastructure — and start making money for the country,” Trump said. “They will be reimbursed.” Analysts and traders say it could easily take years for critical infrastructure to be fully repaired and for oil to freely flow out of Venezuela, which currently accounts for less than 1% of global supplies even though it has the world’s largest reserves, according to a Bloomberg report. ALSO READ