Posted On: Thursday - January 15th 2026 11:27AM MST
In Topics: Trump China Americans Liberty/Libertarianism World Political Stupidity
I knew someone from Venezuela way back in the mid-1980s. Within a post on a slightly different subject, I included my opinion of the former Crown Jewel of South America that was Venezuela before Communism and AFTER the discovery* and then proper exploitation of the oil riches that lie underneath. Most would say that Peak Venezuela was the 35-40 year period from the early 1950s through the late 1980s.
From that old post:
Let me tell you about South America, though very generally, and about Venezuela. Back in the 1980's that country was the "crown jewel" of the continent. For various reasons, probably good stuff for another post, all the countries in Latin America have have been run badly for most of their histories. Simon Bolivar was the guy who liberated more than 1/2 the countries in South America from the Spaniards, who were no Magna Carta-drafters or Constitutional scholars themselves. Subsequent to these liberations, the mixed native-Spanish people have been running these semi-shitholes into the ground, pulling them out of the ground and back, in 10 - 50 year cycles. Some have been in the shithole phase for their entire histories so far - bad timing, that, huh? In general, down there, military juntas come and go, Commies take over for long periods, death squads try to get rid of the Commies, along with other people they never did like and so forth.Hugo Chavez took over the Presidency in early 1999 and ran the place into the ground through his death in '13. A pundit named Adrian Wilson has a nice quick take on Venezuela Before Chávez — A Democracy Built on Oil and Fragile Trust on his Quiet Revolutions substack site.
However, the Venezuelans had done well with their oil resources, and Caracas, the capital, was an up-and-coming modern city. The one immigrant I knew was a smart one, and did very well in the US, but saw no reason to bring anyone else from the big family up here. They were doing quite well down there. Now, that's nothing but an anecdote (if that) but I am going by the stories I was told of the place, though obviously a bit biased. As is the case throughout Latin America, there are always loads of the very poor. Who knows what would have happened if a stable government down had stayed in place in Venezuela? However, the Commies, starting with a long reign by Hugo Chavez, took over 20-odd years back, and the place eased itself ungracefully into shithole status. Could one expect anything else?
As I read about the President Trump- arranged kidnapping of Communist Nicola Maduro over the last couple of weeks, it seems that his predecessor Hugo Chavez has gotten short shrift. The downfall of Venezuela didn't start with Maduro. He just oversaw the last dozen years of it. (Does Trump even know this history? It doesn't matter, I guess.) Chavez is dead though, so ...
What does Peak Stupidity have to say about the raid on the leadership of Venezuela, a very blatant Regime Change either side would admit?
First of all, let's dispense with the pure stupidity, such as that Mr. Maduro was arrested on gun and drug charges. The leader of a country's armed forces will by definition be in control of lots of guns and other armament. Can the Prime Minister of the UK come to my State and arrest the Governor, or any of us living here for violating the strict gun laws of the Realm? Didn't we fight a war about that a quarter Millenium ago? ... and officially, we were Colonies. Venezuela is not exactly a colony, though we'll get to this.
Narcotics have come in from the cartels in Latin American countries for... since I ever thought about it.... Mexico, Colombia (Medellin was THE place in the '90s - it's supposed to be very nice now.), Peru, Bolivia Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela too, sure. How about Americans don't take the drugs that will kill them, and there is no problem? Along with this, that's one more advantage of securing the border, the control of uncontrolled substances.
No, it's not about the guns and only a bit about the drugs. It's somewhat about the oil - Trump does not like Americans getting screwed, and he may have just learned what Communist "Nationalization" of industries has been about over the last century - better late than never. (At least he's honest about the oil - I'll give him that.) What this Western Hemispheric Regime Changes is really about, though, is China and the Monroe Doctrine.
That Monroe Doctrine, the policy that America will basically prevent external large powers from having any control of the countries of the Western Hemisphere, goes back a LONG WAYS, just over 2 centuries. Per wiki,
President James Monroe first articulated the doctrine on December 2, 1823, during his seventh annual State of the Union Address to Congress (though it was not named after him until 1850). At the time, nearly all Spanish colonies in the Americas had either achieved or were close to independence. Monroe asserted that the New World and the Old World were to remain distinctly separate spheres of influence, and thus further efforts by European powers to control or influence sovereign states in the region would be viewed as a threat to U.S. security.China was not in the picture back in 1823, and it was not even in 1923. This is 2026.
One can claim rightly that in Chinese history, other than the 7 voyages of Zheng He in the early 1,400s AD that were unfortunately shut down by the Yuan Dynasty emperor Hong Zi, the Middle Kingdom has never had military aims outside the Middle Kingdom. You can't say they're not a war-making people, as just this one case alone would attest. Other than as a matter of pride, cough, Taiwan, cough, cough, China doesn't want to take over the world, right?
China doesn't have to "take over" the world militarily though. Chinese people are already everywhere. The sun never sets on the diaspora of Chinese people. The Chinese have business deals going in nearby countries to China, all over Africa, and in South America too with people there to make it happen.** Is that OK by the Monroe doctrine, if it's "strickly bidness"? Should we care about the 203 y/o Monroe Doctrine?
This is where Peak Stupidity may stray off the Libertarian/Constitutionalist ranch. I would like to proclaim that, NO, the US has no business in deciding who runs what country anywhere beside ours and we CAN make it on our own. I'd like to see more of that making it on our own.
However, those 2 big oceans may still bless us militarily, but the economy is Global, and if China ends up owning the resources of all the rest of the world, controls the sea lanes and the airways, are we going to be OK with that? It's been 2 centuries already during which the Monroe Doctrine has been in place, with the small Cold War era exceptions of Cuba and Nicaragua... and there was quite a big fuss made about that, especially over the former.
We might not be happy about a world run by the Chinese, with only us trying to operate separately. Having the world up in our business next door is not something Americans are used to. (There may be a lesson there for NATO and Russia.)
A friend who is very excited about the action Trump took down there in Venezuela says the Chinese have been taken aback by this and taught a lesson. This is where I'm conflicted.
Let me add one more sentence from that wiki blurb above that follows:
In turn, the United States would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal affairs of European countries.Wait, what ...? I guess we haven't been following the whole of the Monroe Doctrine after all... at least half of the time it's been in place. Is it Trump's idea that maybe we should? This could include controlling Greenland but then angering the Euros so much about that, such that NATO is destroyed? Would that be that 4-D chess that they say Trump is playing, though we'd guess these ideas would have been passed on to him by some advisors?
So, I don't know the answer to the question, was this the right thing to do, even if most certainly not proper per the US Constitution and declarations of war. I can see that the ctrl-left has been left in a quandary. They have criticized Trump before for NOT taking out this Latin American dictator, but now they can't thank him for doing it because... he's Trump.
Good luck to Venezuelans... those in Venezuela that is. The end of Communism, for now, can't be a bad thing.
PS: What I didn't state in that old post is that it has often been US help that switched some of these places from Communism back to Military Juntas, which was going beyond the Monroe Doctrine, as other foreign powers were not always
involved.
* It was first found in Maracaibo back in 1922.
** I am in the process of re-watching Empire of Dust for that movie review.
Comments:
I only read the title, but I must say, Ah, this is post topic I had hoped to see and digest here! Will chew slowly and savor, and think about the contents. Back later with a comment.