The U.S., while involved in many foreign countries, is particularly interested in Venezuela’s leadership because they want a leader who will be friendly to American business interests. Not only is Venezuela a socialist country and a perceived threat to U.S. capitalism, but the U.S. wants access to Venezuela’s massive oil reserves. John Bolton, the U.S. National Security Advisor, said, “It will make a big difference to the United States economically if we could have American oil companies really invest in and produce the oil capabilities in Venezuela. It’d be good for the people of Venezuela. It’d be good for the people of the United States.” Right now, the Venezuelan oil companies are largely nationalized, which means the profits go to the government. Bolton wants to get American oil companies into Venezuela to benefit the U.S economy and the people of Venezuela. But, when we look a little closer, we see that there is no real evidence that what he’s saying is true. More than anything, it’s important question the narrative that major American news companies are telling about the situation in Venezuela, and to acknowledge the fact that people in power are being dishonest.

The leaders of our country would like us to believe that they are overthrowing a dictator and giving aid to the Venezuelan people, when the real motive is control of the country and its oil. Even many prominent Democrats are with Trump in supporting Guaidó, including Nancy Pelosi. She announced her decision “to recognize Juan Guaidó, president of the National Assembly, as the interim president until full, fair and free elections can be held.” She added that “Nicolás Maduro’s regime of repression … must be condemned swiftly by the full international community.” Our country’s leaders keep repeating that we’re supporting Guaidó in the name of democracy and human rights when what they really want is to tap into Venezuela’s natural resources. They want to place a person in power who would be open to U.S. oil companies coming into Venezuela. The excuse that they use for this coup is that they’re concerned about human rights and want to get rid of an “oppressive dictator.” John Bolton has openly said that the U.S is interested in Venezuelan oil, but still Trump and many other political figures keep pushing the narrative of helping a country in need. It’s surprising how they can keep saying the same statements about Venezuela when being clearly contradicted by their own people.

Gaining access to Venezuelan oil wouldn’t actually benefit the U.S economy. As Allan Nairn pointed out in an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!, there is a negligible difference between owning the oil and buying the oil on the market, as the price is decided internationally. Therefore, it seems there are other reasons Bolton wants to seize the oil—namely political reasons. They want to control where this oil goes and where the revenue goes, and don’t want the Venezuelan government to have the power to decide. The Venezuelan government, as of now, has been using the money from oil for several political purposes, including social programs to benefit the poor, and assisting in cancelling Haiti’s oil debts. However, the U.S doesn’t really care about these problems, and wouldn’t mind if poor countries remained in debt. They don’t like the idea that helping the poor through socialist programs can actually improve the conditions in a country, because it shows how other systems can work better than capitalism, and undermines their efforts to scare people away from socialism.

Guaidó, who’s backed by Trump and his supporters in the U.S., has also received support from the white and wealthy population in Venezuela. Wealthy white citizens of Venezuela are an overwhelming minority when compared to the Mestizo, who are poorer, and of mixed ethnic origin. Guaidó is supported by the white minority because the current president, Maduro, is actually trying to help prop up the Mestizo population, while giving less benefits to the richer, white people. Thus, almost all of the Mestizo support Maduro, while the rich white population supports Guaidó. The white minority has been somewhat neglected, and now their voice doesn’t have the final say in what happens in the country. Guaidó knows he can’t win an election, because the majority of the population supports Maduro, so he decided to skip the election process altogether and instead flaunt the support from Trump and the U.S., support he can’t get from the local population. Guaidó’s policies, which are friendly toward the idea of U.S. business in Venezuela, would benefit the already rich population, while ignoring the Mestizo. He can’t win a free and fair election, so he replaces running for office with recognition from Trump, and expects that to be enough.

It’s surprising to hear so many people argue that we’re helping Venezuela because of democracy and human rights, when the architects of the the attempted coup are openly contradicting themselves. They say they’re trying to remove an unjust dictator, but at the same time they also state that they’re hoping to get U.S. oil companies into Venezuela. They tried (as a publicity stunt) to give aid and supplies worth around $30 million to Venezuela, but, according to TeleSur, since 2002, U.S. sanctions have cost Venezuela up to $58 billion, more than 1,000 times the value of the aid. Furthermore, the U.N. has stated that the U.S. shouldn’t give aid to Venezuela, that it wasn’t their business, but the U.S. openly ignored them. The hypocrisy from the U.S. government is appalling, and major news outlets are only telling one side of the story. When we dig deeper, we find that the U.S. isn’t actually helping Venezuela for benevolent reasons, but for national gain.

Even if you do believe in what the U.S. is doing in Venezuela, even if you think what they’re doing is right, take what you hear from major U.S. media with a grain of salt. I’m not suggesting that everyone who reads this should go into the streets and protest. But at least try to read alternative media outlets that cover both sides of the story. Politicians are talking out of both sides of their mouth—one side saying it’s a humanitarian crisis, one side saying it’s for oil and money. To be truly well informed, we should look at the full story before making a judgement on this whole situation. We shouldn’t let the mainstream media brainwash us into believing one narrative.