In the last 50 years, the United States has fought more wars than any other country by far. To sell so many wars to its own population and to the world, it is necessary to mobilize powerful war propaganda — and the USA, without a doubt, has it.
Much of the American and Western media is now convinced that they aim to “liberate” the Venezuelan people from a repressive dictator. That liberation is the American motive — whether here or anywhere else — is laughable.
The US did not bomb and invade Venezuela to “liberate” the country. They did so to dominate it and exploit its resources. If there is one thing the president can be credited with regarding Venezuela, it is his candor about the American objective.
When asked about U.S. interests in Venezuela, Trump didn’t bother to feign concern about freedom or democracy. “We’re going to have to have big investments from oil companies,” Trump said. “And the oil companies are ready to go.”
This is why Trump has no interest in empowering Venezuelan opposition leaders — be it the Nobel Peace Prize winner, (whom Trump dismissed as a “nice woman” but incapable of governing), or the declared winner of the last election, Edmundo González, in whom Trump shows no interest. Instead, Trump said he preferred Maduro’s handpicked vice president to be a hard-line socialist.
Note that Trump is not demanding that Rodríguez give Venezuelans more freedom and democracy. The only thing he demands of her is “full access… We need to and to other things.”
The US government, in general, does not oppose dictatorships, nor does it seek to bring freedom and democracy to the oppressed people of the world. The opposite is true.
Installing and supporting dictatorships around the globe has been a pillar of US foreign policy since the end of World War II. Far more democratically elected governments than have worked to remove dictatorships.
Indeed, American foreign policymakers often prefer pro-US dictatorships. Especially in regions where anti-American sentiments prevail — and there are more and more regions where this is the case — the US far prefers autocrats who repress and crush the wishes of the population, rather than democratic governments that need to placate and adhere to public sentiment.
The only requirement the US imposes on foreign leaders is deference to American dictates. Maduro’s sin was not autocracy; it was disobedience.
This is why many of America’s closest allies — and the regimes Trump loves and supports most — are the most savage and repressive in the world. Trump can barely contain his admiration and affection for the Saudi despots, the Egyptian military junta, the royal oligarchic autocrats of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar or the ruthless dictators of Uganda and Rwanda.
The US doesn’t just work with such dictatorships where it finds them. The US helps to install them. Or, at the very least, the US blankets repressive regimes with multifaceted support to maintain its grip on power in exchange for subservience.
Unlike Trump, the president liked to pretend that his invasions and bombing campaigns were driven by the desire to bring freedom to the people. However, one need only look at the bloodbath and repression that took place after Obama bombed Muammar Gaddafi out of office, or the destruction in the coming CIA “regime change” war, to see how fraudulent such claims are.
Despite decades of evidence about U.S. intentions, many are always eager to believe that the latest American bombing campaign is the good and noble one, the one we can actually feel good about.
Such a reaction is understandable: we want heroes and we crave inspiring narratives about defeating tyrants and freeing people from repression. Hollywood films target these tribalistic, instinctual desires, and Western war propaganda does the same.
Believing that this is what is happening provides a sense of vicarious strength and purpose. It’s good to believe in these happy endings. But that is not what American wars, bombing campaigns, and regime change operations are designed to do, and that is why they do not produce such results.
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