Rubio defends Maduro capture, forgets US meddling history
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, appearing on numerous Sunday morning shows, defended the US operation to snatch Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, claiming Washington has 'leverage.' This 'leverage' playbook isn't new; it's a well-worn script from the Grenada invasion (1983) to Panama (1989), both featuring unilateral US military action to depose perceived threats and install favorable regimes.
The Guardian's focus on Trump's 'assertion' about running Venezuela distracts from the fact the US has been running, or attempting to run, parts of Latin America for over a century. One might wonder if Rubio's 'leverage' includes the hundreds of millions in sanctions and aid cuts imposed on Venezuela, choking its economy, or perhaps the multiple coup attempts the US tacitly—or overtly—supported
against Maduro's government. How many times can the US declare a government illegitimate before its own claims of democracy ring hollow? After all, Venezuela sits on the world's largest proven oil reserves. Such inconvenient truths rarely make it into Sunday morning political analysis.