US Officials Warn Venezuela (Again), Ignore Own History
Trump-era officials are set to 'brief' senators on Venezuela, as if US policy there isn’t already a well-oiled machine of destabilization. This comes from The Hill (2021) with the usual gravitas, ignoring that Washington’s playbook for Latin American nations daring to pursue independence has been remarkably consistent since the United Fruit days. How many 'briefings' does it take for politicians
to finally unpack the historical context of US-backed coups, sanctions, and economic warfare that have plagued the region? One might wonder if the real briefing should be on US interventions in Venezuela: the 2002 coup attempt against Chávez (reported by The Guardian at the time), the devastating sanctions (Congressional Research Service, 2019) that cripple its economy but miraculously leave the
oil fields mostly intact for... someone. It's almost as if 'democracy promotion' sounds better than 'resource acquisition' on Capitol Hill.