Venezuela
UPDATE January 4, 2026: Numerous comments today. Within the week, I plan to revisit a powerful week in December 2003 in Haiti. This will be a separate post. It seems particularly relevant to today, and is my own first person retrospective – my own opinion. In times like this, the movers of agendas do not provide direct verifiable evidence, so all that is left is an informed guess. That’s what I’ll offer. Stay tuned.
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Probably a good time to become acquainted with Venezuela, a country more than twice the size of California, six times the size of Georgia. Population of over 31,000,000, roughly one-tenth the population of the United States.
Good idea, too, to get up to speed about Vietnam War era, the Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, and other places like Grenada, Iran, Ukraine, Israel-Gaza. Check out the War Powers Act of 2002 as well. Review U.S. adventures in Central America in the 1980s; the U.S. facilitated coup in Haiti in 2004, on and on and on. Get up to speed on Panama and Greenland. Don’t sit on the sidelines.
Here’s a map of the Western Hemisphere. Venezuela (W on the map) is generally south of Florida, across the way from Cuba….
Here’s the CIA Factbook about Venezuela.
Venezuela from National Geographic World Atlas 7th Edition.
Sunday Jan 4, 2026: These overnight posts from Joyce Vance and Heather Cox Richardson and Robert Reich are relevant commentary about the Venezuela situation as known.
COMMENTS (more at end of post);
from Brian: Yes, Venezuela! I just listened to Trump’s live speech where he talked about our attack there and we took the two leaders (a guy and a woman) away.
from Gail: Thanks, Dick. In case you don’t know, Venezuela is not the source of narcotics sent to the U.S. The major sources of drugs are Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico. The justification for invasion is a lie, as in all wars (see David Swanson’s War is a Lie). The U.S. has been trying to overthrow Venezuela for decades, ever since that country voted out the descendants of Spanish colonizers who continued in power after Venezuela attained nominal political independence from Spain. The U.S. supported the ‘Comprador class’ rulers because they were easy to control and allowed the U.S. to take a large cut of Venezuela’s oil. When Hugo Chavez was elected, he nationalized the oil company and used the oil profits to benefit Venezuelan citizens as a whole. Venezuela has the largest amount of oil in the world – more than Saudi Arabia, although it’s a heavier oil and requires more processing.
from Carol: Monroe Doctrine = Magroe Doctrine, now called the Donroe Doctrine
from Carlo: I am so angry that Trump did that. He does not have the right and it is time Democrats in Congress stopped him.
from Sue: I’m stunned to learn that Venezuela has more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia. . . And have we just discovered why Trump thought it was a good idea to explode a few bombs (or whatever) over Nigeria on Christmas Day?
from Fr. Harry: Many thanks Dick. Good information. [Harry also forwarded an excellent commentary by Emmanuel Charles McCarthy. This was published Dec. 31, 2025]. When in 2026 the economic elites who control the governments of the U.S, Britain and the EU order Trump to unleash, through the U.S. Military, the CIA, the FBI, etc., the fires of hell on Venezuela, its people, its political institutions, its infrastructure and its economy in order to restore democracy, to stop drugs, to end illegal aliens from entering into the U.S., to preserve the Monroe Doctrine and/or to get rid of the no-good, evil rulers of Venezuela who are sociopaths, murderers, oppressors of their people, just look at the graph here and know the actual reason for this murderous U.S. onslaught.
From the President’s remarks on Jan. 3, 2026: “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to have. We had boots on the ground last night at very high level, actually.We want to surround ourselves with good neighbors. We want to surround ourselves with stability. We want to surround ourselves with energy. We have tremendous energy in that country. It’s very important that we protect it. We need that for ourselves.”
from Terry to her large mailing list: Call your representatives to oppose this illegal invasion. Write letters to the editor. Attend protests. Talk with family and friends. Click on this Indivisible link to send a message to Congress. Complain to the Strib – their webpage has the Northstar story as the main online story today!! What else can we do?
It’s another step towards authoritarianism here that they lied to Democrat members of Congress, told Senators they weren’t pursuing regime change in Venezuela, and then invaded without any pretence of Congressional approval. [CNN]. This morning Rubio did not deny that Cuba might be next.
from Carole: I did pop down to the White House yesterday, and chatted with others who had done the same. Interestingly, most were more recent immigrants (than I). And, most reflected the perhaps world view that Maduro’s kidnapping was a good thing. But, what about the Constitution? Rule of Law? Such bloody complicated times. No question that the sooner POTUS is replaced the better.
Who has the authority and the standing to stop this anti-democratic Administration when it defies the US Constitution?
Only the voters in 2026 and then only if they want to do that. Congress and the SCOTUS do not have the SISU aka courage to do that! We do have to recognize that the votes may well only want to show their continued support for the man child who would be king just as they did when electing him in 2024. Perhaps when donnée sends US troops against US citizens protesting his policies and actions, folks might want a change but…
Ah yes, a five-time draft dodger and convicted felon who loves to play war as the Commander-in-Chief. As the man child who would be king claimed in his press conference this morning, everything was done in spectacular, stunning, best ever and fill-ion-blanks regarding the operation to remove Maduro from his country. Such a modest and humble man er make that, a narcissistic and insecure man child.
“You break it, you buy it” describes this situation, even if one ignores the question of the legality (under US law, never mind international) of the operation. The president’s statement that the US will “run” Venezuela absolutely ensures US responsibility for any wrong turns that Venezuela may make in a foreseeable future. This will be yet another bill come due upon a future generation, for the benefit of an elite few of the present.
Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.Nation building that cost millions of lives and dreadful injuries, trillions spent.For nothing.
The President and GOP signal racist tropes decrying about some real and some alleged fraud in Minnesota. And now the great voraciou Trump and crew machine of greed and corruption already fleecing taxpayers is going to hand over billions to the oil companoes who donated and pledged fealty.
A sick and evil cabal of self dealers, MAGA voters and millions of nonvoters we weep in your ignorance.