US Amasses Troops Off Venezuela, Calls It 'Freedom of Navigation'
The Washington Post dutifully reports on the US amassing 16,000 troops and an aircraft carrier group off the Venezuelan coast, couching it in the familiar rhetoric of 'regional stability' and 'counter-narcotics operations'. Apparently, drug cartels now require an entire carrier strike group to interdict. This isn't the first time the US has found reasons to project power near a sovereign nation
possessing vast oil reserves. Remember Operation Just Cause in Panama, or, for that matter, the entire history of US intervention in Latin America? One might wonder if the US Navy is planning to locate some elusive 'weapons of mass destruction' just off Caracas, or perhaps deliver democracy at the barrel of an F-18. History suggests that 'freedom of navigation' often means 'freedom to control
resources.' The media conveniently overlooks previous US attempts to destabilize Venezuela, including support for coup attempts in 2002 and 2019, all while President Nicolás Maduro's government defies US corporate interests. Odd how 'democracy' always seems to need a military escort when it comes to countries that displease Washington.