The US strikes on Venezuela has sent shockwaves around the world. (Image X @Israel_Avia)
New Delhi: Even as the US strikes on Venezuela and the capture of the country’s president Nicolas Maduro sends shockwaves around the world, the adverse effects on India are expected to be minimal.
Talking to the media, former Indian Ambassador to Venezuela R Viswanathan said that India is not dependent on Venezuelan oil and that trade between the two countries is extremely limited.
He opined that although India has some investment in Venezuelan oil fields through ONGC, Saturday’s developments are unlikely to affect the country in a significant manner.
"It was not a surprise... this is not the first time he had threatened. When he was President for the first time, at that time also he had threatened Venezuela... This time he has sent the warships and he has authorized the CIA... No, it will not affect India," he said.
"We are not dependent on Venezuela for oil. Our trade is very little and we have some investment by ONGC in their oil fields. So, this is not going to affect India in any big way," he added.
Following the military strikes by the United States on Venezuela on Saturday, global oil markets are closely watching for any fallout. If early signals are anything to go by, there are limited indications of any disruption so far.
Venezuela has one of the largest petroleum reserves in the world, raising concerns that military action could disrupt global price trends. However, crude oil prices have remained subdued as the country’s oil exports were already constrained by US sanctions.
Speaking to the media, Trump said that the future of Venezuela after this operation would be decided soon.
“The United States is going to be ‘very strongly involved’ in Venezuela’s oil industry in the wake of the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro,” he said.
“We have the greatest oil companies in the world, the biggest, the greatest, and we’re going to be very much involved in it,” he added.
Earlier, following the airstrikes, Trump took to social media to announce that the US military has taken Maduro and his wife into custody.
"The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country," Trump said in a statement on social media.
Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, was rocked by several explosions during the early hours of Saturday as US president Donald Trump announced that the American military had carried out a “large-scale strike”. As the explosions rang out, residents ran out of their homes and gathered in the streets. The sudden blasts caused panic in the city and raised serious concerns about the safety of citizens. People sought refuge in safer places with their families. There was chaos in the surrounding areas.
Saturday’s military amounts to the removal of a sitting president without a declared war or full-scale invasion. This operation by the US military has few parallels in recent decades. This operation has been compared to the actions against Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
According to experts, Saturday’s events are comparable to the 1989 US operation to seize Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega. Similar to Maduro, Noriega had claimed victory in controversial elections and was accused of drug trafficking by Washington.
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