A sculpture of a hand holding an oil well outside Petroleos de Venezuela headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela. Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The United States appears ready for war with Venezuela, a prospect that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro this weekend attributed to America’s desire to control the country’s vast oil reserves.

The US State Department has denied that oil played a central role in America’s military sending more than a dozen warships and 15,000 troops to the region – or that oil is behind President Donald Trump’s warnings that land strikes could be imminent and planes should avoid Venezuelan air space . Instead, the Trump administration says its military threats are part of America’s effort to stop flows of undocumented migrants and illegal drugs fro

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