Why is the US so interested in Venezuela

Hyderabad: It is all about liquid gold. Venezuela, the impoverished country that it is, is still rich - colossally rich if you reckon with the oil reserve it sits on. With nearly 300 billion barrel of oil underneath Venezuela has the world's largest oil resources. And US has always eyed it gleefully.

America's intense interest in the goings-on in Venezuela stems from this commercial compulsion. It wants a government in Venezuela that is favourable towards its economic interests. It wants a pliable leader at the helm who won't act the way Nicholas Maduro does or his predecessor Hugo Chavez did. Julian Guaido is thus a good thing happening in the Latin American country. At least for the US. And the US has blessed him.

All three, US Prez Donald Trump, NSA John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have simply asked Maduro to step down. Or else ... Well, if Maduro does not succumb to America's wish and comply meekly then the US will take the matter very seriously. And the uncontainable Trump has made it plain. Military action is an option, Trump said showing once again that he is a man who does not mince words.

The US started with an apparently innocuous gesture. It is sending aids on opposition leader and self-proclaimed President Juam Guaido's request. Guaido's contention is that his country could very well do with aids. A much chagrined Maduro refuses to let in the aid by telling his supporters in a rally that Venezuela is no beggar. In the US aid Maduro sees a sign of future military intervention.

But there was a time, in the not so distant a past when things between Venezuela and the US was hunky dory with no traces of bitterness. Things changed after Hugo Chavez. But let's flip back a few pages of history first.

When oil was found in Venezuela decades ago it was from the United States first that people rushed there, drilled the ground, extracted the crude and set up American companies. Americans settled down there later in droves.

Pic courtesy: Getty Images

While that was good for the US in general and the enterprising Americans in particular, resentments began brewing among the locals. The common Venezuelan saw Americans' prosperity but their lot did not improve despite their own oil resources.

Yet the status quo was there till Hugo Chavez came in the picture. With his left leanings and tilt towards Russia Chavez was seen by the US as a potential threat. A two-day chaos erupted convincing Chavez of US hand behind it. He immediately turned anti-American blasting the US at all platforms he would step on.

Nicholas Maduro, the current President and a follower of Chavez continued Chavez's anti-US legacy. And the US was looking for an opportunity to turn around the situation in its favour. Juan Guaido became that opportunity.

This self-proclaimed President sent his envoys to meet American lawmakers, sought US aid, urged Venezuelans to overthrow Maduro and tried to befriend the army. All with the blessings of the US. More than anything else Trump has talked of military intervention if the worse comes to the worst.

Guaido knows it very well that it is in America's own economic interests that he would get the US support, sort of by default.