US Decries 'Unpredictable' Venezuela, Forgets 60 Years of Predictable Coups
The mainstream narrative frames US intervention in Venezuela as a recent, somewhat chaotic Trump-era phenomenon. Yet, to call US policy 'unpredictable' ignores a century of highly predictable intervention in Latin America—from supporting dictators in the 'Banana Republics' to the Iran-Contra affair, and yes, persistent efforts to undermine socialist governments. The US has consistently sought to
control oil-rich nations and prevent any South American nation from charting an independent course. Trump's sanctions and tanker seizures were merely a continuation of this legacy, not an unpredictable anomaly. The only 'unpredictability' is perhaps whether the US chooses economic strangulation or direct regime change at any given moment, though both outcomes are usually intended to be the same.
The 'ad hoc' approach appears to be a calculated shift in tactics, not a departure from the grand strategy of hemispheric dominance.