US Demands 'Proof of Life' After Attempted Coup, Forgets its Own Role
The Hill dutifully reported on Venezuelan VP Delcy Rodriguez demanding 'proof of life' for President Maduro after a botched raid, allegedly led by two former US Green Berets. What The Hill's headline glosses over, however, is the inconvenient fact that US officials were involved in this deeply amateurish attempt at regime change. Remember Juan Guaidó? The US spent years and millions pushing him as
Venezuela's legitimate leader, openly supporting opposition factions while simultaneously imposing crippling sanctions that starved the Venezuelan economy. This wasn't Venezuela's first rodeo with US-backed destabilization; the specter of the 2002 coup attempt against Hugo Chávez—which the US tacitly supported—looms large. Each time, the script is similar: declare a leader illegitimate, fund an
opposition, impose sanctions, and then express 'concern' when the predictable chaos unfolds. One might question why the Trump administration, or any US administration, believed sending a couple of ex-soldiers into a sovereign nation would yield a different result than previous, larger-scale failures. How many times does a country need to be told 'hands off' before the message sticks?