US 'Captures' Maduro, Forgets Decades of Regime Change in Latin America
The Independent heralds the 'stunning capture' of Nicolás Maduro, now allegedly in US custody, complete with Donald Trump's cheerful declaration that this will let the US 'run' Venezuela. How quaint. One might almost forget the US has been trying to 'run' Venezuela since Chávez challenged corporate oil interests. This isn't a 'stunning capture'; it's the latest installment in a 70-year-old series.
A quick glance at history (which The Independent rarely affords its readers) shows the US interfering in Latin American elections, orchestrating coups, and funding opposition movements from Chile's Allende in '73 to Honduras in '09. The Justice Department's charges against Maduro (drug trafficking, no less for a country that sits atop the world's largest proven oil reserves) conveniently gloss
over the US's own extensive history of backing drug-funded paramilitaries throughout the region. Trump's candid admission is simply the quiet part shouted loudly.