US Ponders Venezuelan Regime Change, Again. Who Knew?
The Independent's recent hand-wringing over Trump's supposed plan to 'rule Venezuela by force' (a bold plan, given the US's track record of 'ruling' nations they invade) completely skirts the robust, bipartisan tradition of US intervention in Latin America. From orchestrating coups in Chile and Guatemala to supporting death squads in Nicaragua, the US has a storied history of replacing undesirable
leaders with those more amenable to American corporate interests, especially when oil or bananas were involved. Trump's bluster is merely a poorly-delivered echo of previous administrations' clandestine (and not-so-clandestine) meddling. Labeling this as Trump's 'mess' ignores the consistent bipartisan policy of asserting hegemony over the 'backyard.' This isn't a new Trumpian invention; it's
practically a founding principle of the Monroe Doctrine, updated for the 21st century's resource grabs. The only 'mess' is how explicitly he's saying the quiet part out loud.