Within hours of executing a large-scale regime change operation against Venezuela, Donald Trump celebrated what he characterized as a triumph. He shared an image of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in restraints before addressing Americans about the operation.
Trump lauded the military for conducting what he termed among the most spectacular demonstrations of American military capability in the nation’s history, purportedly rendering Venezuelan forces helpless. He announced narcoterrorism indictments against Maduro and his wife in New York while asserting—absent supporting evidence—that American operations have decreased maritime drug trafficking by 97 percent.
America’s Return to Monroe Doctrine Interventionism
Trump proceeded further, declaring Washington would “administer the country” pending an unspecified transitional arrangement, while openly threatening a larger subsequent assault. Significantly, he situated these declarations within a broader claim of American “domination over the Western Hemisphere,” explicitly referencing the 1823 Monroe Doctrine.
Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela represents far more than isolated aggression. It constitutes the latest expression of a centuries-long pattern of American interference that has scarred Latin America. The regime change operation in Caracas signals the Trump administration’s embrace of this historic interventionist policy with renewed intensity—an ominous development for the region.
That this assault targeted Maduro’s repressive and corrupt administration, which inflicted immense suffering upon many Venezuelans, renders the situation no less catastrophic. Washington’s extensive record of backing brutal dictatorships throughout the region eliminates any pretense of moral legitimacy. Trump himself lacks moral standing given his involvement in major political scandal concerning convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his unwavering backing for Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Demolishing International Law Through Unilateral Force
The Trump administration’s Venezuela attack consolidates a catastrophic pattern of international law violations. When Washington can unilaterally initiate military strikes against sovereign states at will, the entire international legal framework becomes meaningless. This communicates to every nation that power and might supersede legality and sovereignty.
For Latin America particularly, the ramifications are frightening. To comprehend why this attack resonates so painfully throughout the region requires examining its history. Washington has orchestrated or backed coups and military dictatorships across the region with disturbing consistency.
A Century of American-Backed Coups and Dictatorships
In Guatemala in 1954, the CIA overthrew democratically elected President Jacobo Arbenz. In Chile in 1973, the United States supported the coup installing Augusto Pinochet, initiating an era of unchecked political violence. In 1983, Washington invaded and occupied Grenada to topple its socialist government. Throughout Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Central America, Washington supplied training, financing, and political protection for military regimes that tortured dissidents and murdered civilians under Operation Condor.
Who Will Be Next?
The pressing question now: if Washington executed regime change in Venezuela so effortlessly, who follows? Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, who has clashed with the Trump administration, reacted swiftly—and justifiably worries, given Trump’s December threat of intervention, declaring “he’ll be next.” Others regionally are equally apprehensive.
Beyond the threatening prospect of American intervention, Latin America now confronts potential regional instability that Caracas regime change will likely generate. The political crisis under Maduro had already extended beyond borders into neighboring Colombia and Brazil, where Venezuelans escaped poverty and repression. One can only envision the ripple effects American-enacted regime change will produce.
Undermining Venezuelan Democracy Through Foreign Imposition
Many Venezuelans are likely celebrating Maduro’s removal. However, American intervention directly undermines Venezuela’s political opposition. It enables the regime, which appears to maintain power, to characterize all opposition as foreign operatives, eroding its legitimacy.
Venezuelan people deserve democracy, but they must achieve it themselves with international support—not have it imposed at gunpoint by a foreign power with documented history prioritizing resources and geopolitical dominance over human rights.
Latin Americans deserve better than choosing between indigenous authoritarianism and imported violence. What they require is not American weaponry but genuine respect for self-determination.
No Moral Authority for Military Aggression
Washington lacks moral authority to attack Venezuela, regardless of Maduro’s authoritarian character. Both statements are true: Maduro is a dictator who inflicted immense harm upon his people, and American military intervention is an illegal act of aggression that will not resolve Venezuela’s democracy crisis.
The region’s future must be determined by its peoples themselves, free from empire’s shadow.
Original analysis by Raphael Tsavkko Garcia from Al Jazeera. Republished with additional research and verification by ThinkTanksMonitor.
