Economic assistance from the United States, as well a booming oil industry, led Venezuela to become one of the few Latin American countries that was able to finance its own modernization in the post-war era.

[1] According to author Thomas M. Leonard, Venezuela's oil garnered "intense interest" from the Allies and the Axis, both before and during World War II.

Leonard says that the war could, ideally, have resulted in an "economic boom" if Venezuela could maintain a policy of strict neutrality and sell oil to both sides.

Although Mexico's nationalization of its oil industry did not result in an American military intervention, just the possibility of one was enough to keep the Venezuelan government content with seeking a mere increase in its share of profits, rather than taking all of it.

On the "cultural front," according to Leonard, General Wilhelm von Faupel, head of the Ibero-American Institute, attempted to gain influence by sending his wife, Edith, to Venezuela to "extol the virtues of fascism."

The nearby British, French, and Dutch colonies also presented security concerns: If any were to fall under Axis control, they would certainly become bases for the interdiction of the Caribbean sea lanes, which carried Venezuela's crude oil to be refined in Aruba, and thence to market.

After the war in Europe began in September 1939, and after President Eleazar López Contreras declared Venezuela's neutrality, commerce continued with Japan and Italy, but trade with Germany ceased due to the British blockade.

It was under the operational control of Section D (4) from the Foreign Security Service (Ausland-SD), and was primarily concerned with the collection and transmission of clandestine information from Latin America to Europe.

Overall, the Germans were successful in establishing a secret radio communications network from their control station in Argentina, as well as a courier system involving the use of Spanish merchant vessels for the shipment of paper-form intelligence.

However, the United States was concerned about a possible enemy attack on Venezuela, in order to disrupt oil production, if it did openly join the Allied cause and declare war.

As result, the Venezuelan government broke relations with the Axis powers on December 31, 1941, but it did not declare war until February 15, 1945, when the threat of an attack against the oil was gone.

Accordingly, after the attack on Aruba, the United States Navy established the Fourth Fleet, which was responsible for countering enemy naval operations in the Caribbean and in the South Atlantic.