U.S. president announces American companies will "fix" Venezuelan infrastructure, sell oil globally—after seizing sovereign nation's elected leader

WASHINGTON/CARACAS — In a stunning declaration that echoes 19th-century gunboat diplomacy, U.S. President Donald Trump announced Saturday that American oil companies will take control of Venezuela's petroleum industry following a military operation that kidnapped President Nicolás Maduro—the sitting head of state of a sovereign nation—and plunged the South American country into chaos.