EDMONTON – A political scientist says U.S. President Donald Trump’s interest in transforming Venezuela’s oil-rich sector is a reminder for Canada’s oil and gas industry to not panic and stay competitive.
Heather Exner-Pirot, director of energy, natural resources and environment with the think-tank Macdonald-Laurier Institute, says Canada has always competed with other oil-rich countries, and Trump’s recent claims his country will “run” oil-rich Venezuela is a medium-term risk to Canada.
With his removal of Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela, Donald Trump has opened another front in his economic assault on Canada by indirectly targeting our oil industry. Canada must respond decisively with diversification to the world market via the rapid construction of at least another pipeline to the coast, and ideally more.
American leftists, who never met an anti-American dictator they didn’t like, are protesting the U.S. capture of Venezuelan dictator and narcoterrorist Nicolás Maduro. Part of their noisy hysteria includes highly deceptive claims about the drug war Venezuelan cartels wage on America.
Vice President JD Vance wrote on X Sunday, “You see a lot [of] claims that Venezuela has nothing to do with drugs because most of the fentanyl comes from elsewhere. I want to address this.” He not only explained the reality of Venezuelan drug trafficking that was backed by Maduro, he also took on false claims about the Venezuelan oil industry and its new American takeover.
Verónica Gutiérrez woke up what seemed like “a million WhatsApp messages” from her family in Venezuela after the U.S. launched a strike on the capital of the country that led to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday.
In the early hours of Saturday, the U.S. launched a “large-scale strike” in Caracas and took Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, out of their home within the Fort Tiuna military installation.
Gutiérrez, who left Venezuela in 2015, describes feeling a mix of optimism and confusion at the news.
Left-wing Hollywood celebrities wasted no time demanding the impeachment of President Donald Trump after he ordered the military operation the lead to the capture of Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, on what U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi called charges of Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.”
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Consulate in downtown Toronto Saturday afternoon, condemning a military operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.
The Toronto protest, which began at around 3 p.m. unfolded hours after the United States seized Maduro and his wife, announcing plans to prosecute them in New York, while also declaring it would run Venezuela during a transitional period.
For the most part the usual cranks who show up at any anti-American pro-tyranny demo.
I get the impression Carney’s media is deeply disappointed normal people and especially the majority of Venezuelans aren’t in a TDS frenzy over Maduro’s toppling.
Venezuelan journalist Germania Rodriguez Poleo's message to those who are mad that President Trump captured dictator Nicolas Maduro:
"Do not for a moment let your hatred and disdain for Donald Trump have you defending the dictator of my country, which was destroyed by [Maduro]… pic.twitter.com/uWp1oA6IQl
— Ryan Saavedra (@RyanSaavedra) January 3, 2026
h/t patthedog
The Venezuelan oil industry has been “a total bust” for a long time, according to Donald Trump. After attacking Caracas and taking the country’s leader captive, Trump promised to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry with the help of America’s biggest oil companies.
Venezuela’s beleaguered oil industry could “make a lot of money” with the might of the US behind it, Trump told the press, claiming that the new regime would invest billions to revive its fortunes.
The woke left and woke right are coming out in force to defend Nicholas Maduro and to attack Donald Trump for his operation to arrest him and bring him to the United States.
There is still much to learn about the operation, but by all accounts, it was one of the most audacious and successful operations in memory. Venezuela was warned ahead of time that the US intended to depose Maduro, and there has been a massive military buildup over the past several months. Russia and China have been sending weapons and advisors, yet despite all the help of our adversaries and prior warning, the US went in, captured Maduro, and left with hardly a scratch.
“Man of the people”
Defund the CBC pic.twitter.com/OnyG2FyLaA
— Ryan Gerritsen🇨🇦🇳🇱 (@ryangerritsen) January 4, 2026
Carney is getting hammered in the comments
I think you’re afraid you’re next. pic.twitter.com/XslURalL3q
— Bruce (@bruce_barrett) January 3, 2026
h/t Mauser
The nation of Venezuela is estimated to have the largest oil reserves in the entire world, and Donald Trump announced today that the United States not only captured Venezuela’s dictator, it will be taking over the country’s oil infrastructure.
The swift and sudden collapse of the Maduro regime is a massive punch to the nose for China, Russia, Iran, and all of our most violent enemies. But more practically for millions of Americans, it could also have a huge impact on our global energy dominance and gas prices. And that also, of course, is a source of concern to our enemies.
Trump is backing regime change in oil-rich Venezuela. Canada, beware
Donald Trump doesn’t want Canada’s aluminum, steel, lumber or cars. Could oil emerge next on this tariff-fuelled northern hate list? It might if he can find substitute supplies. How about Venezuela’s? Going after Venezuela’s alleged narco-traffickers alone does not justify the formidable U.S. military buildup off the country’s waters; going after its oil might.
The biggest U.S. armada assembled since the 1991 Gulf War is steaming off Venezuela’s coast. The array of weapons in the southern Caribbean and on nearby military bases includes the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, guided-missile destroyers, amphibious assault ships and – ominously – equipment, including Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, that is used by elite special forces. Various reports say those forces might include soldiers trained in risky infiltration missions, seizing airfields among them.
@fancypants_s https://t.co/33YB0edMW6
— Patti Jo (@TheSupeHero) January 3, 2026
h/y Patti Jo
The United States’s highest-ranking military officer on Saturday briefed the country on the lightning attack Washington carried out on Venezuela overnight.
General Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, revealed details about the elite operation that successfully captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a press conference alongside President Donald Trump.
A stunning U.S. raid to capture Venezuela’s president came after a group of amateur intelligence analysts argued that satellite images reveal a Venezuelan launch site that could send ballistic missiles as far north as Washington, D.C.
There was no indication that the American attack had anything to do with the subject of the group’s claims, which the U.S. military dismissed earlier as “speculative” and one top expert rated as plausible but unproven by the evidence.
Sounds a bit like Canada …
— Jd (@JdeJ555) January 3, 2026
h/t Clink9
Many world leaders whined Saturday over the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, claiming the clandestine US mission was an unnecessary use of force — despite a legal precedent for it.
Allies Russia, Iran, China and Colombia were among the nations lining up Saturday to demand the Trump administration release Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores, who were headed to New York City to face federal charges of narcoterrorism.
NEW: Woman whose older brother was k*lled in Venezuela starts bawling, thanks President Trump for capturing Nicolás Maduro.
“So many years waiting for this,” she said in Miami, Florida.
“We’ve been here eight years now because they k*lled our older brother… they kidnapped my… pic.twitter.com/ABOpyxCPEr
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 3, 2026
Trump’s toppling of Maduro is fraught with risk – what happens next is unclear
The US may want many of its foes gone from power. It doesn’t usually send in the military and physically remove them.
Venezuela’s abrupt awakening took two forms.
Its residents were woken abruptly to the sound of deafening booms: the sound of its capital Caracas under attack from US strikes targeting military infrastructure.
Which world leaders have been captured by US previously
The reported capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has placed him among a small and controversial group of world leaders seized by the United States, reviving memories of past U.S. intervention that reshaped entire regions.
With his capture, Maduro would join figures such as Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Panama’s Manuel Noriega, whose arrests marked defining moments in US foreign policy.
It can’t be a coincidence that Trump captured Maduro while a Chinese delegation was still in Venezuela to meet with him.
Trump is making a clear statement.
He’s going after the cabal’s controlled puppets, the “paper tigers”.
Imagine all the military ops we never hear about. pic.twitter.com/fsmg4diZmk
— Kab (@Kabamur_Taygeta) January 3, 2026
Maduro Perp Walk
Maduro perp walk. pic.twitter.com/e1Maaun5EK
— Paul Mauro (@PaulDMauro) January 4, 2026
h/t Mauser
President Donald Trump joined Fox & Friends Saturday morning to discuss the U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
President Trump praised U.S. forces who participated in the execution and planning of the operation, saying that “no other country on Earth could pull it off”
… After Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the U.S. operation, President Trump issued a stern rebuttal.
.@POTUS: “She’s a good woman, but the cartels are running Mexico. She’s not running Mexico — the cartels are running Mexico.” https://t.co/YQOjteYLHi pic.twitter.com/ciCN3m33Vd
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 3, 2026
Obama and Clinton did not seek congressional authorization to wage an 8-month long war in Libya.
“We came, we saw, he died,” they chortled as they violated the War Powers Resolution.
— Bluesky Libs (@BlueskyLibs) January 3, 2026
The Venezuelan dictator was in a supposed safe house when the Delta Force commandos burst in just after 2am and snatched him and his wife, before his security team had time to secure the property’s final defence of two heavy steel doors. Even if they had, the Americans were armed with blowtorches.
Within minutes Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores were being flown by helicopter across a moonlit Caribbean Sea to the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship. They are expected to be sent to a New
York federal detention centre before facing trial on drug trafficking charges.
The swiftness of the capture has led to speculation that Maduro may have been betrayed by someone in his inner circle. His personal security was understood to have been overseen by Cuba.
Trump says US oil companies will spend billions in Venezuela to revive their infrastructure.
For Canada, this means we can kiss capital investments in our industry goodbye. That is unless China comes looking for out oil, but a pivot to China is dangerous. pic.twitter.com/aqLtKaD1ya— Brian Lilley (@brianlilley) January 3, 2026
Canadian political leaders are celebrating and condemning the United States over its nighttime strikes on the capital city of Venezuela and the subsequent capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
In a statement posted to social media, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada has “refused to recognize any legitimacy of the Maduro regime and opposed its repression of the Venezuelan people, including the persecution of dissenters and particularly political leaders opposed to the regime.”
