Venezuela holds 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, the largest on Earth, accounting for 17% of global supply. This is heavy crude that U.S. refineries were literally built to process. For 25 years, that Venezuelan oil was locked behind a hostile regime, Soviet clients, then Chinese partners — always someone else’s leverage against us.

President Trump had a vague but tantalizing message for a couple of American oil executives roughly a month before the U.S. captured Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro: “Get ready.”