US Diplomacy Returns to Venezuela After Failed Coup Attempt
📰 THE STORY: AP reports that US Ambassador Laura Dogu has arrived in Caracas to reopen diplomatic missions after seven years, following what they describe as a "military action ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump" that removed Nicolás Maduro from office. The article notes the severance of ties in 2019 after Trump backed Juan Guaidó. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: In 2002,
the US-backed a failed coup attempt against Hugo Chávez, Maduro's predecessor. The 2019 attempt to install Juan Guaidó, a largely unknown opposition figure who had never run for president, was a repeat of this playbook. The US government and its allies recognized Guaidó as Venezuela's 'interim president,' despite him holding no actual power and failing to generate significant domestic support.
This wasn't a 'military action' in the sense of a successful transfer of power but an internationally condemned, US-orchestrated regime change attempt, which failed. Double Standard: Imagine if Russia or China had attempted to install a completely unelected leader in Canada or Mexico, severed diplomatic ties, and imposed crippling sanctions for years. Western media would be in an uproar about
sovereignty and interference. Yet, the AP blandly describes the US trying to remove an elected leader as a mere 'military action' and the breaking of ties as a mutual decision, ignoring the immense economic coercion and political meddling that led to it. Follow the Money: US sanctions on Venezuela, beginning in earnest under Obama and vastly expanded under Trump, choked off the country’s oil