Ali Moshiri, a longtime Chevron executive who oversaw the company's operations in Venezuela, warned the CIA that attempting to replace the country's leadership with the democratic opposition could produce instability similar to the aftermath of the Iraq war, according to people familiar with internal U.S. deliberations before the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.
Moshiri advised U.S. officials that opposition leader María Corina Machado lacked the support of the country's security services and control of its oil infrastructure, making a rapid political transition unlikely. Installing the opposition, he argued, could leave Washington with "another quagmire like Iraq."
