With U.S. support, traders arrived and cut deals. That investment has so far failed to improve the bleak conditions in the mining industry. Under pressure from Washington, Venezuela's state mining company in March shifted its sales of gold bars to the United States from the Middle East, practically overnight. A Times investigation traced gold arriving in the United States to miners who pay protection money to gangs. U.S. financiers are exploring investments in mines tied to local gangsters.

We also found no sign that residents in Venezuela's mining region are benefiting meaningfully from President Trump's gold rush. We traveled to the gold mining town of El Callao and found that expanding operations had only further degraded the town's broken public services. Practically all of El Callao's paved roads have been destroyed by years of heavy truck traffic.

Power goes out daily, and for longer, as the expanding mines suck up capacity from an overloaded power substation. The town needs new roads, steady power, a share of the taxes generated by the mines, and a government that enforces environmental laws. Under the Trump administration, none of those has yet materialized. El Callao's mayor, Coromoto Lugo, told us that the local government receives the equivalent of about $20,000 a month from the federal authorities. That's less than 1 cent a day per resident.