Dictator’s playbook is to start a war to steal your neighbor’s resources. If you win, you’re a hero to nationalists and have a new revenue stream for you and your cronies to pillage.
Maybe they were counting on Brazil giving their army access through more accessible terrain? But wtf would Brazil allow that?
The entire reason such an oil rich country is desperate for new oil is because of their shitty corrupt government of imbeciles making stupid decisions, so maybe it was just another instance of that?