Axios

Venezuela will release an "important number" of political prisoners, including both citizens and foreigners, the South American country's top legislator said on Thursday.

The big picture: The announcement, from National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez, could signal that the regime is softening its long-standing limits on political dissent — a move the opposition in Venezuela has demanded for years.

The Senate on Thursday voted in favor of blocking President Trump from taking further military action in Venezuela without congressional approval after the U.S. captured the country's leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Why it matters: Enough Republicans broke with Trump to advance the war powers resolution — a rare and notable rebuke of the president — even as most of the GOP stands behind the operation in Venezuela.

President Trump's advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Wednesday in Paris with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev to discuss the U.S. plan for peace in Ukraine, according to a source with knowledge.

Why it matters: After reaching an agreement with Ukraine on almost all aspects of Trump's plan, the White House wants to get a clear response from Russian President Vladimir Putin to the proposal.

President Trump's decision to yank the U.S. from UN climate change agencies will set back international progress on addressing the climate, observers say.

Why it matters: The U.S. is the world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and provides much of the scientific heft addressing the problem.

The head of the U.S. oil industry's leading lobbying group on Thursday predicted "tremendous interest" in Venezuela from American companies — but only if "big requirements" around security and other areas are met.

Why it matters: President Trump is hoping that U.S. producers invest in reviving output from Venezuela's broken-down oil fields.

Five days after the toppling of Nicolás Maduro, let's take stock of knowns and unknowns about Venezuela's oil and White House plans.

Why it matters: The White House sees control of Venezuela's oil as a pillar of its hemispheric strategy — and a big U.S. business opening.

President Trump spoke on Wednesday with Colombia's President Gustavo Petro and the two said they agreed to meet at the White House soon.

Why it matters: It was the first between the two leaders. The call was an attempt to de-escalate tensions between the U.S. and Colombia after a war of words between Trump and Petro that included threats of using military force.

President Trump on Wednesday announced plans to withdraw the U.S. from dozens of global organizations, including the United Nations climate change agencies.

Why it matters: It's among the biggest and most extreme steps this administration has taken to retreat from the global stage and pull back foreign spending.

President Trump is leaning into a 19th century policy in announcing plans for the U.S. to "run" Venezuela until it's "brought back to health" following the U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

The big picture: While his predecessors sought to distance themselves from the Monroe Doctrine that the U.S. established to combat European interference in the Americas, Trump's eagerness for a 21st century version of the policy underscores his wider goal to "restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere."

President Trump has put the world on alert as he's threatened countries across the globe with possible U.S. military action.

The big picture: Following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro last weekend, President Trump has suggested multiple Latin American countries might be next, citing the so-called Donroe Doctrine, a play on the Monroe Doctrine.

President Trump is expected to announce the Gaza Board of Peace next week as part of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, two U.S. officials and two sources with knowledge told me.

Why it matters: The board, which will be chaired by Trump and include around 15 world leaders, will supervise a still-to-be-formed Palestinian technocratic government and oversee the reconstruction process.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that he will meet with his Danish counterpart next week in Washington to discuss the crisis over Greenland.

Why it matters: The White House's insistence that the U.S. could use military force to take Greenland has created extreme alarm in Denmark and among other NATO allies.

House Democrats are scrambling for levers to block the Trump administration from reprising its Venezuelan incursion across Latin America and beyond.

Why it matters: Trump's threats to intervene militarily in Greenland, Colombia, Mexico and elsewhere have attracted some bipartisan opposition, which Dems see as a rare opening to get something passed.

The U.S. Coast Guard seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker on Wednesday after a cat-and-mouse chase across the Atlantic, despite the vessel being shadowed by a Russian submarine and Moscow publicly opposing its capture.

The big picture: It was one of two seizures early Wednesday morning as part of the enforcement of President Trump's blockade on sanctioned tankers carrying Venezuelan oil. The capture of the Russian-linked Bella-1 was particularly dramatic given the geopolitical implications.

President Trump has long discussed taking over Greenland, and under his second term, he's leaving a wide range options on the table — including military action — to get what he claims the U.S. needs.

The big picture: With new fuel behind his hemispheric vision and the possibility of military involvement, world leaders are taking the president's renewed fixation on the self-ruling island seriously and warning him to respect its independence.

Pundits and politicians are getting ahead of themselves in crowing about how U.S. companies, particularly in the energy sector, could profit from this past weekend's events in Venezuela.

The big picture: No one knows how this will play out, nor even if the Trump administration has a solid strategy beyond the grab-and-go on Nicolás Maduro.

The U.S. plans to directly control Venezuelan oil sales and revenue via U.S.-controlled accounts, but those moves will benefit the country's people as well, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday.

Why it matters: His comments are among the Trump administration's most expansive descriptions of its approach to Venezuela's oil sector since the toppling of President Nicolás Maduro.

The geopolitical face-off between President Trump and Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro concluded this weekend with black-bag precision and a Nike Tech tracksuit.

The big picture: The most complex raid since Abbottabad gave the world a glimpse of what the U.S. military is capable of when time is short, all the other resources are virtually endless and the stakes are scarily high.

• It was both almost too bombastic for a movie script and surprisingly sneaky for an era of ubiquitous sensors, cellphones among them.

Several hours after issuing an unprecedented statement against President Trump's threats to take over Greenland, the leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. stood side by side with Trump's top advisers in Paris and announced joint security guarantees for Ukraine.

Why it matters: The events of the last few days — in particular, Trump's renewed threats on Greenland in the aftermath of the Venezuela raid — left real doubts in Europe about whether the transatlantic alliance still exists.

The Trump administration is pressing Venezuela's interim government to dismiss all suspected spies and other intelligence agents from China, Russia, Cuba and Iran from the South American country, a U.S. official told Axios.

The big picture: The move, which does not apply to regular diplomatic personnel, marks the administration's latest effort to force the oil-rich nation to meet U.S. demands following last week's raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

President Trump will meet Friday with U.S. oil executives at the White House as he presses the industry to invest in reviving Venezuela's production, multiple sources tell Axios.

Why it matters: Boosting output from the nation's dilapidated oil infrastructure will require massive outlays.