Trump Warns Venezuela to 'Do What's Right' (For US Interests)
Deutsche Welle reports that Trump is warning Venezuela's incoming leader to 'do what's right.' This is classic media shorthand for complying with U.S. foreign policy objectives, framed as moral imperative. What the report conveniently skips is the U.S.'s own long, documented history of destabilizing Latin American democracies, from the 1973 Chilean coup (Operation Condor, anyone?) to the 2002
attempted coup against Hugo Chávez in Venezuela—a coup the U.S. initially recognized (Guardian, April 13, 2002). 'Doing what's right' for the U.S. often translates to resource extraction and regime change, not genuine democratic self-determination. One might wonder if 'doing what's right' is a sudden moral epiphany, or if it simply means Venezuela's oil, lithium, and other resources should be more
accessible to U.S. corporations, just as it did in Iran in 1953 (CIA archives, 'The Battle for Iran', Foreign Policy, 2014) or Nicaragua in the 1980s. When will the U.S. 'do what's right' and respect national sovereignty instead of brandishing threats veiled as advice?