Venezuela Is Regime Change Under Another Name

The Trump administration is working to frame the operation as a straightforward removal of a fugitive “narcoterrorist” and a transition of Venezuela from a pariah state into a cooperative partner. In this telling, there is no pretense of nation-building. The United States will control Venezuelan oil sales, deny rivals such as China access to strategic minerals, and pull Caracas into Washington’s orbit .

In another era, the kidnapping rendition of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro might have consumed headlines for weeks. Amid the most frenetic news cycle in modern U.S. history and after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has quickly faded. That normalization is the point.

In another era, the kidnapping rendition of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro might have consumed headlines for weeks. Amid the most frenetic news cycle in modern U.S. history and after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has quickly faded. That normalization is the point.

The Trump administration is working to frame the operation as a straightforward removal of a fugitive “narcoterrorist” and a transition of Venezuela from a pariah state into a cooperative partner. In this telling, there is no pretense of nation-building. The United States will control Venezuelan oil sales, deny rivals such as China access to strategic minerals, and pull Caracas into Washington’s orbit.

The plan now floated would see Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, stabilize the country with U.S. backing and then call general elections. Aided by historical amnesia, this may appear different from previous regime change wars. But is foreign-directed regime transformation any less perilous than traditional regime change?

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