Beneath the United States: A History of U.S. Policy Towards Latin America said:
No one wanted to rely upon Venezuelan officials, wrote one U.S. minister in 1867, three weeks after his arrival in the country. "Its President, its Cabinet, and Chief Officers, if one half of what I hear may be relied upon, worse than robbers, appropriating the revenues of the Government to their own use without authority of law, in fact without any, save that which might, and a rabble soldierly give them." The preceding U.S. minister had reported a few months earlier that Venezuelan judges were "subject to the suspicion of bribery and often easily controlled in their action by dislike to foreigners," and that "the honesty of almost every public man in this country is doubted."
To avoid the need to rely upon corrupt Venezuelans, Minister Thomas Stilwell proposed annexation to the United States. At this moment President Grant was having difficulty convincing Congress to annex the Dominican Republic, and so he decided that a better approach would be not simply to impose a lien but also to take actual control of Venezuela's customs collections. His proposal to this effect became moot before the new U.S. minister could deliver it, however, because Venezuela began to pay its creditors.' For a few years the government in Caracas was able to service just enough of its debt to forestall intervention, but never enough to provide full satisfaction.
Lars Schoultz. Beneath the United States: A History of U.S. Policy toward Latin America (Kindle Locations 2473-2481). Kindle Edition.