Donald Trump has criticized America's role as the world's policeman as much, and now he has continued where previous presidents left off. What does he really want in Venezuela and is democracy suddenly on his mind?
President Donald tramp he returned the United States to the role of "world policeman" even though he himself criticized previous presidents for doing so and boasted about withdrawing from protracted conflicts.
Captivity President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro which, according to the announcements of the Trump camp, will be subjected to trial in the US, probably means regime change in Caracas. Njge's wife was also detained.
For months, Trump has been the target of criticism, including from his own Republican ranks, because he apparently prepared this operation under the dubious pretext of fighting drug trafficking.
"Brilliant operation, actually," Trump said shortly New York Times in his own style, praising the extremely good planning and "great people" who carried out the operation to strike Caracas and capture Maduro.
But why is Trump overthrowing the government in Venezuela?
Maduro, a former bus driver and longtime second-in-command of the late Hugo Chavez, never had Chavez's charisma. He stayed in power the way dictators do - by suppressing the opposition and free elections.
But since when does it interest Trump, a man who understands foreign policy as a series of parts?
Donald Trump claims that Venezuelan President Maduro has been arrested
Senator Brian Schatz, one of the first to speak critically after the attack on Caracas, said that the US is not defending any of its vital interests in Venezuela.
"We should have learned by now not to jump into another stupid adventure. And he (Trump) hasn't even deigned to tell the American public what the hell is going on," Schatz wrote on the X Network.
For months, the Pentagon has been massing troops and warships in Caribbean waters in an ostensible fight against drug trafficking. During that period, 36 boats and ships were destroyed, at least 115 people were killed, with great doubts as to whether in many of these cases it was all about smugglers.
The official goal is to stop the smuggling of fentanyl and cocaine into the US. Experts reject such explanations, reminding that the drug gangs from Venezuela are dwarf players in the field of crime dominated by the Colombian and Mexican cartels.
In addition, Trump, with characteristic exaggerations, accused Maduro of sending hundreds of thousands of migrants to the US. He said Maduro is "emptying his prisons and insane asylums" and "forcing" people to go to the US, without offering any evidence of this.
About eight million people have fled the misery and repression in Venezuela in recent years, many ending up in neighboring countries.
In the latest announcement of the Venezuelan Government, it is stated: "The sole objective of these attacks is to take control of Venezuela's strategic resources, especially oil and minerals."
While some analysts speculate that the goal of the American intervention is oil or to put indirect pressure on Cuba - a poor country dependent on remittances from Venezuela - others see more profane reasons.
"It's not about oil," said former US military officer Jim Marquardt, now a lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of International Studies. "And the other thing it's not about — especially with the Trump administration — is democracy."
Admittedly, when it comes to democracy, Trump has a solid excuse - back in 2019, he supported Juan Guaidó as the "president" of Venezuela, during the brief period when Maduro's regime seemed to be on its way out.
The White House, and especially the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also supported the Venezuelan oppositionist María Corina Machado, who received the Nobel Peace Prize a few months ago.
That decision, in truth, disappointed Trump himself, who thought he deserved the Nobel. This is exactly where, say some connoisseurs of the situation, lies the reason for Trump's actions.
"The crisis in Venezuela exploded with Guaidó and was not resolved. Biden did not resolve it and now there are many indications that Trump is working on his legacy," Marquardt told DW.
"He tried to solve things in the Gaza Strip, he is working very hard on the peace process between Ukraine and Russia. And Venezuela is closer to the home hemisphere and, I would say, the easiest thing to solve," he added.
In addition, since the beginning of his second term, Trump has lost a good part of the support of the Latin American diaspora, so this way, analysts believe, he is trying to regain a part of that cake, especially in Florida, where the angry emigration from Latin America lives.
Now half the world - from Colombia to Iran - is condemning Trump's adventure and demanding that the United Nations react.
It is unclear what will happen next in Venezuela and who will take the helm, as well as how much will be the presence of American forces. But it is clear that Trump is in a position to justify an attack on a sovereign country and to continue with the American one tradition violent changes of unloved regimes.
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