LETTER TO THE EDITOR: On February 9th, 2026 an article entitled “What’s Going on in Venezuela” was published to the Opinion section of the Maine Campus. I think this piece is a quintessential demonstration of irresponsible, ill-informed writing. “What’s going on in Venezuela” seeks to glorify an act of perverse international policy violation without providing context or actual insight into what’s going on in Venezuela.
This article never mentions the 83 Venezuelans who were slaughtered by U.S. missiles. Or the double standard of Trump pardoning the life sentence of Juan Orlando Hernández, the president of Honduras, who was charged with flooding over 400 tonnes of cocaine into the states, who was also suspected of rigging his election in 2017. This article does not speak to the extensive history of the United States meddling in foreign resources, nor does this article address the message this sends to our international allies and foes regarding sovereignty.
The events occurring in Venezuela aren’t about the U.S. bringing freedom to Venezuela, but just another instance in a two century-long campaign to maintain control over any nation whose natural resources are considered to be of value. If you really want to understand what’s happening in Venezuela, look back in history to the 1953 coup of democratically elected president Mohammad Mosaddegh. Iran attempted to nationalize the oil industry in order to create wealth that would benefit the citizens, instead of Western oil corporations. The C.I.A. organized an elaborate coup, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Iranian citizens and then placed the Shah back in power and backed the regime for years. The United States placed Iran in the grips of one of the harshest authoritarian regimes of the twentieth century.
Multitudes of other countries, such as Guatemala, Brazil, Haiti, Honduras and Chile, defied the modern order of covert imperialism and suffered immense consequences at the hands of U.S. involvement. Similar to Venezuela, they witnessed a complete transfer of wealth from the very land they stood upon into the bank accounts of foreign speculators. Many fell into civil wars which killed hundreds of thousands, suffered under brutal authoritarian regimes or extensive U.S. bombing campaigns. In all of these instances, the United States spread this same rhetoric used in the “What’s Going on in Venezuela” article. The point I’m trying to make is that what we see today is textbook U.S. imperialism: create an enemy, fearmonger and then institute a regime which will benefit the pocketbooks of those in power and their corporate investors.
None of this is to say Maduro is anything but a corrupt dictator. His regime was brutal and unjust, but there are legal frameworks in place designed to combat such regimes. U.N council meetings, economic sanctions and general diplomacy all exist for this exact reason.Venezuela is a U.N. member state, and to invade and kidnap an acting head of state is undoubtedly a violation of international sovereignty. A unilateral condemnation of illegitimacy is not an adequate reason to conduct military operations against a sovereign nation (not to mention the double standard when numerous meetings are held between U.S. presidents and ICJ condemned criminals every year). This open and flagrant disregard for international relations sets a very dangerous precedent for world powers to act at the whims of their desires. For instance, by disregarding political sovereignty, the U.S. is violating the very principle which we have been seeking to institute in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ability of the U.S. to condemn the actions of foreign actors is much more feeble when we openly disregard the same principles.
What’s going on in Venezuela is the culmination of two centuries of imperialist ideology and political greed, which dates back to 1823 with the Monroe Doctrine. The United States of America has long used the guise of world order to implement destructive policies and regimes. What is occurring in Venezuela is more of the same. When Donald Trump claims he will “run Venezuela” it’s a safe bet that the running will not involve social welfare and the redistribution of stolen wealth back to the Venezuelan people. This is all to say that it’s incredibly important to be critical of those with power and those who utilize power unjustly and that I don’t believe, “things are really starting to look up for Venezuela.”
