‘Remote coercion’: What has US approach been since abduction of Maduro?

Three weeks since attack, US plans focus on oil, but little clarity emerges, as analysts warn of Venezuela faultlines.

It was an extraordinary beginning to the new year: A deadly United States military operation on Venezuelan soil. The abduction of the country’s longtime leader, Nicolas Maduro.

But in the three weeks since the operation, widely condemned as an affront to international law and a potential opening salvo in the administration of Donald Trump’s stated goal of “preeminence” in the Western Hemisphere, only a vague framework of Washington’s plan for the South American country has emerged.

Meanwhile, relative calm in Venezuela has overlaid deep-seated anxieties over what comes next, analysts told Al Jazeera. Faultlines in the country’s leadership remain active, with the situation subject to devolve based on how Trump and his top officials proceed.

Here’s where things stand, and what could come next.

Maduro has sat in prison in New York since the January 3 operation, awaiting trial on drug trafficking and so-called conspiracy to commit “narcoterrorism” charges.