Venezuela and the Precedent it Sets

It feels like it's old news at this point, but it's still an important story and it still matters. The United States attacked another country and abducted its president and his wife. Let that sink in. I don't pretend to know or predict the different ways this will shake out, but I can't believe it'll be good.

It's easy to look at what happened and think that Nicolás Maduro being ousted from power in Venezuela is a good thing. I believe Venezuela is better off without him as president. He was a dictator in every sense of the word. He rigged elections, repressed any kind of dissent, and committed countless human rights violations. Pushing to get him removed from power was obviously the right thing to do. Going in and grabbing him in a military operation was not. It also makes me wonder if Trump chose to test the waters with Maduro given that it'd be pretty damned hard to defend him given his reign of terror he cause in Venezuela.

The actions taken by Trump were under the guise of charging Maduro with drug-related criminal charges. That feels a little hard to believe given that he recently pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, who had been convicted of drug crimes. Part of it could certainly be Trump being transactional. Honduras was approaching an election at the time of the pardon, and that could have played a role in Trump's decision to issue the pardon in hopes of giving the far-right candidate in Honduras a boost.

Given Trump's actions after taking Maduro, it seems like a major reason for the action is none other than Venezuela's oil reserves. Venezuela has the world's largest proven reserves of oil. Their oil production has dropped tremendously due to corruption and mismanagement, but surely if we go in and get American oil companies involved, that will sure things up. Just what we as Americans need, another foreign intervention for oil. I worry that this is the primary reason for us getting involved in ousting Maduro. Trump has been all in on the "drill baby drill" idea with fossil fuels cutting away any red tape and making it easier for the fossil fuels companies to extract whatever resources they want.

All you have to do is look at the meeting Trump had with Chevron, Exxon, and the other oil companies. Instead of having a public meeting talking about how they might be able to help Venezuela regain their democracy and rebuild their economy, he held a meeting talking about how they can take advantage of capitalize on their newfound source of oil.

Giving the Green Light to Others

One of the things that I keep thinking about with this is what kind of precedent it might send to the rest of the world. I'm not naive enough to think the U.S. is innocent or that we haven't done or continue to do some questionable, if not illegal acts. We interfered plenty in South and Latin America during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush years. But with autocrats like Vladimir Putin yearning for the glory days of the Soviet Union, their current invasion of Ukraine, and then Xi Jinping itching to make Taiwan part of China, what's to stop them from pointing to us and performing their own military actions to abduct Volodymyr Zelenskyy or Lai Ching-te. It's hard to stand up and defend the rule of law when you're breaking it yourselves. As Jack Smith testified before Congress said:

"But, the rule of law is not self-executing — it depends on our collective commitment to apply it. It requires dedicated service on behalf of others, especially when that service is difficult and comes with costs. Our willingness to pay those costs is what tests and defines our commitment to the rule of law and to this wonderful country."

With how much the current administration is taxing what so many of us take for granted, it's important to remember how dangerous actual lawlessness can be. And at the end of the day, this brazen act by Trump has put the world in a more dangerous and precarious position.