WikiLeaks has published an excerpt of a 1988 declassified cable between the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Caracas highlighting the United States' longstanding interests in Venezuela.
The cable, titled "U.S. Goals, Objectives and Resource Management for Venezuela," outlines that the main goal of U.S.-Venezuela relations is to ensure that "Venezuela continues to supply a significant portion of our petroleum imports and continue to follow a moderate and responsible oil price position in OPEC."
The release of the declassified document comes a day after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned of "regime change" in Venezuela.
“We are evaluating all of our policy options as to what can we do to create a change of conditions where either Maduro decides he doesn’t have a future and wants to leave of his own accord or we can return the government processes back to their constitution,” Tillerson told a press conference.
Tillerson is the former CEO of oil giant ExxonMobile, raising suspicion his position on Venezuela has been influenced by oil interests.
President Maduro has attacked the recent sanctions are an "imperialist attack" against Venezuela.
Cuba likewise described U.S. actions as "an international plot to suppress the will of the Venezuelan people."
What is the #1 U.S. interest in Venezuela? If the classified history of the U.S. State Department is a guide, oil. https://t.co/xCRNDT1oMF pic.twitter.com/8Z1e0IsKND
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 2, 2017