"Donald Trump is hardly the first US president to look south and conquer. Over the last century, no fewer than a dozen of Trump's predecessors embraced the belief that democracy and profit in Latin America were only one successful coup d'état away. But the particular strain of imperial ambition that Trump appears to have set loose with this weekend's raid in Venezuela appears simultaneously to be deeply atavistic and uniquely Trumpian. And it's one that doesn't look set to die down anytime soon."
"It took only a few hours, following the US military's daring seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, for Trump's rationale to shift from hand-waving about democracy and fighting narcotics toward taking control of that nation's vast oil reserves. "We're in charge," Trump told reporters. "We're going to run everything. We're going to run it-fix it." And even before Maduro appeared in a New York City courtroom Monday,"
The US has a long history of using coups to align Latin American regimes with US democratic and profit interests, with a dozen predecessors endorsing such actions. Trump's recent seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro shifted quickly from stated goals of restoring democracy and combating narcotics to explicit plans to take control of Venezuela's vast oil reserves. Trump publicly declared, "We're in charge," promising to run Venezuelan assets, and coined a "Donroe Doctrine" while threatening multiple nations. The operation bypassed congressional consultation and likely violates international and US law, reflecting an 1980s-style mindset combined with modern authoritarian impulses.
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