The Trump administration has claimed that the US attacks on civilian Venezuelan boats are being carried out in 'self-defence' to save American lives. FILE PHOTO: REUTERS
Since the beginning of September, the US military struck several boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, alleging these were "drug boats" carrying cocaine into the United States. So far, there have been 21 strikes killing more than 80 civilians.
Venezuela has been designated a narco-terrorist state by the Trump administration to justify these attacks. Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has been accused of establishing "cocaine factories" in his country and of allegedly supplying drugs trafficked into the US.
Ridiculously, the White House spokesperson claimed that these attacks are being carried out in "self-defence" to save American lives!
There is no originality in this sort of rhetorical hyperbole from the US administrations. In 1983, under the Reagan administration, when Grenada was attacked, it was the "communism factory" the administration was trying to eradicate!
The rhetorics are familiar and the goals are obvious. The script is very similar to what happened when Panama's ruler, Manuel Noriega, was taken down in 1989 under President George H W Bush. Noriega was also accused of drug trafficking. The real US goal was to have greater control over the Panama Canal administration.
Maduro has been labelled by the US as the leader of the Cartel de los Soles, dubbed a foreign terrorist organisation. In August 2025, the US government increased the reward offer up to $50 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Maduro.
The history of US invasions—"intervention" being the preferred US term—in Latin America is as frequent as it is widely varied. The justifying propaganda behind each encounter is as unimaginative as they are ridiculous. The ploys, in most cases, are to establish "democracy" by overthrowing authoritarian regimes. The underlying reasons in almost all instances are anything but! As we are seeing today, the saga continues! Contexts are diverse, pretexts are alike!
Thus, what we are witnessing in Venezuela in recent months is nothing new. The history of US control in Latin America is replete with propaganda spewed by the US administrations and their paid agents in the media.
Venezuela, an oil-rich country in Latin America, has become US's headache since 1998 when a bold nationalist leader named Hugo Chavez assumed power. He nationalised the oil industry in addition to implementing a socialist land reform programme. As a result, it drew the ire of the US. Under Chavez, Venezuela made tremendous progress in reducing poverty (by as much as 15 percent) and increasing GDP.
As seen time and again, history repeats itself too often in Latin America. The US administration did everything possible to make Chavez's government a failure, eventually staging a CIA-instigated coup in 2002. The coup failed within two days despite backing from the CIA as Chavez's supporters gathered and stormed the presidential palace, Miraflores, and demanded his immediate release. After that, he stayed in charge until his death from cancer in 2013.
His Vice President Nicolás Maduro became the president and hung on to power despite many insurmountable challenges since then. The challenges he is facing were primarily conjured up by the US administrations in the form of diplomatic pressures and economic sanctions. Since they are not producing the intended results, the US government under Trump is now pushing for the military option. Attacks on boats are just the beginning. The pressure tactics appear to be part of a sinister campaign by the Trump administration to orchestrate a regime change in Venezuela by removing President Maduro from power and replacing him with the newly minted Nobel Laureate Maria Corina Machado. The goal is to establish US control over Venezuela's oil and to re-establish the elite class of which Maria Machado is a "poster child."
America's "problem" is Venezuela's vast reserves of oil. US's interest is to gain a strong grip on that resource. With 303 billion barrels (estimated as of 2023) of oil, Venezuela has the largest reserves in the world. But the country's export in 2023 was only $4.05 billion as compared to $181 billion of Saudi Arabia during the same year. Venezuela used to be one of the major sources of foreign oil to the US during the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, during Chavez's regime production fell due to his government's nationalisation policies and other socialist measures. Subsequent US sanctions worsened the situation further and Venezuela's oil production and export suffered a drastic reduction. Production grew to some extent in 2024 and early 2025, with output exceeding close to a million barrels per day in February 2025.
Recently, however, to the dismay of Trump administration, China has become the primary importer of Venezuelan oil. About 84 percent of total exports in September (2025) went to China, by direct or indirect means (via third parties) despite US-imposed sanctions.
The staggering amount of oil exports to China from Venezuela suggests a major shift in the geopolitical scenario. China's increasing influence in Latin America, exemplified by this statistic, is undeniable. China extended $62.5 billion in loans to Venezuela over the last three decades and is now Venezuela's biggest creditor. Of course, the US is concerned and is taking measures to thwart China's advances in the hemisphere. Washington looks at the emerging strong ties, both economic and ideological (socialist), between Venezuela and China with suspicion and concern.
Obviously, the strategic relation between these two countries across the two continents is hard for the US to swallow. Previous administrations sought to counter China by trade and investment, but Trump, in his second term, is keen on pursuing a military "solution" to America's "Venezuela problem." With roughly 10,000 troops, eight naval warships, two B-52 aircraft, and MQ-9 Reaper drones, deployed in the Caribbean in recent months, there are reasons to believe that the Trump administration has a broader and long-term plan and its scope goes beyond Venezuela to strengthen the US control in the region.
Irtishad Ahmad is professor emeritus at the College of Engineering and Computing in Florida International University, US.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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