Venezuela

Nothing about Donald Trump’s brazenly illegal actions against Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro suggests that the American ruling class has learned any lessons from US imperial overreach and failure in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Venezuela itself.

"They have spoken openly about controlling Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world," said US Sen. Bernie Sanders. "It recalls the darkest chapters of US interventions in Latin America."

The president told The Atlantic that the interim Venezuelan president will meet a fate worse than Maduro’s unless she complies with U.S. wishes.

"The 'Trump corollary' to the Monroe Doctrine—applied in recent hours with violent force over the skies of Caracas—is the single greatest threat to peace and prosperity that the Americas confront today," said Progressive International.

The kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro is a crude act of Trumpian aggression. Yet it also illustrates the US leadership’s weakness, as it moves to lock down control of the Western Hemisphere.

A former Venezuelan diplomat speaks to Jacobin about how the state, military, and popular forces are responding to US military aggression — and what comes next.

In the early morning of January 3, 2026, the US bombed Venezuela and kidnapped its president and its first lady. As of Day 1 of the war, Venezuela’s government is intact and popular mobilizations are calling for their president’s return. Trump has said that the US will run Venezuela and take its oil