Caracas' plush shopping district, in 1969, during Venezuela’s Golden Era.
Source: Bettmann/Getty Images
Trump Mingled With Venezuela’s Elite Long Before He Vowed to Fix the Country
From boarding school to beauty pageants, the US president mingled with Venezuela’s jet set long before he set sights on the country's oil industry.
President Donald Trump’s years-long crusade to dislodge Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, a mission he finally accomplished this month, was billed as a way to thwart drug-trafficking, check migration and revive Venezuela’s oil industry. But behind the president’s preoccupation with the South American nation is also the story of lifelong personal and business relationships with Venezuelan elites in New York and Miami.