More: The Nobel Peace Prize winner made her pitch by live video to a business conference in Miami attended by American executives and politicians, including President Trump.

"I am talking about a $1.7 trillion opportunity," Mara Corina Machado, Venezuela's main opposition leader, said last month, weeks after winning the peace prize for challenging Nicols Maduro, the country's autocratic leader.

She highlighted Venezuela's enormous oil and gas reserves " "We will open all, upstream, midstream, downstream, to all companies" " as well as its minerals and power infrastructure. Her message has been unwavering since early this year, when she boasted of her country's "infinite potential" for U.S. companies on a podcast hosted by the president's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

She has had a receptive audience.

The president and his aides have insisted publicly that their lethal military operations around Venezuela and pressure campaign against Mr. Maduro are mainly aimed at protecting Americans from drug trafficking. But Venezuela is not a drug producer, and narcotics smuggled through the country mostly go to Europe.

Behind the scenes, administration officials have also focused intently on Venezuela's oil reserves, the largest in the world.

Their importance is evident in secret negotiations between U.S. officials and Mr. Maduro about oil, and in conversations that Mr. Trump's aides and allies have had with Ms. Machado and other Venezuelan opposition figures.

Mr. Trump has publicly made clear his interest in control of Venezuela's reserves. In a speech to Republicans in North Carolina in 2023, four years after he backed efforts during his first term to oust Mr. Maduro, Mr. Trump said, "When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over, we would have gotten all that oil, it would have been right next door."