BBC Shocked US Captures Maduro; Forgetting Panama's Noriega?
The BBC's recent article details 'deep shock' from world leaders reacting to a US strike on Venezuela and the capture of Nicolas Maduro. This isn't the first time the US has taken such direct action against leaders it deems an inconvenience. One might recall the 1989 invasion of Panama to oust and capture Manuel Noriega, a man once on the CIA payroll, only to be deemed a narcotrafficker once he
outlived his usefulness. The 'international community' then, as now, offered mixed reactions, but the US proceeded anyway, much like it did with countless interventions across Latin America throughout the 20th century under the Monroe Doctrine. So, when state-funded broadcasters express 'shock' at US interventionism, one can't help but wonder if they're genuinely surprised, or simply performing
for an audience conditioned to believe such acts are aberrations rather than a well-established pattern of foreign policy. How many times does a superpower have to engage in regime change before it's no longer 'shocking' but simply... US foreign policy?