Maduro Must Go
The Maduro regime in Caracas is evil, anti-American, and aligned with our enemies. It must fall.
The world is replete with bad actors, enemies of America, and expansionist states seeking to gain predominance at the expense of their neighbors. China, Russia, and Iran are the most powerful nations to fit this bill and rightfully take up the majority of the attention when it comes to American interests overseas. But the globe is full of smaller countries who also check these boxes. Unlike their bigger friends, these countries are extremely susceptible to American pressure. We would be far better off if the governments of these nations were no longer hostile to us – an outcome that we could work to bring about. Yes, that means a policy of regime change.
Regime change strategy has gotten a bad rap given the events of the Iraq War, but it is undeserved. To be sure, that particular instance of a regime change war may have done far more harm than good, depending on who you ask. But not all regime change policies must end in full-scale armed conflict. Indeed, they may not require the direct application of force at all. As a geostrategic concept, regime change is sound. Some foreign governments are bad moral actors, impossible to work with in good faith, or hostile to our interests. These are not regimes with which we should seek comity. Sugarcoating this objective reality is counterproductive and unnecessarily limits our policy choices. As the primary world power, America should want a strong, forward-oriented foreign policy so as to deter, contain, or defeat bad actors.
Removing these enemy regimes in advance of a major conflict would aid us greatly. If our more powerful enemies are shorn of their satrapies, they are less able to expand a conflict against us in a manner that distracts from the core issue. Despite their size, smaller nations can still pose a threat to American interests, even if far less significant than their bigger partners. We should not be content with allowing them to remain in power to act on those threats. Depending on the regime in question, their deposition could also bring significant domestic US benefits as well.
Perhaps the best candidate for such a regime change policy is one that meets all those criteria and exerts an inordinate influence on America both domestically and in our near-abroad: Venezuela.
Since 1999, when the dictatorial Marxist Hugo Chávez assumed power in Caracas, the nation has descended into the depths of darkness. Under Chávez and his hand-picked successor Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela has become an authoritarian hellhole where basic rights are ignored, political opposition is crushed, corruption reigns, and citizens flee in the millions. Human rights abuses are extreme, with the government cracking down on all forms of dissent, jailing and shooting protestors. The forced socialism of Chávismo has driven people into starvation, penury, and unfreedom. The state’s level of control is the worst of both worlds: nearly total in some respects and incredibly weak in others. For instance, it represses basic freedoms completely, while also lacking the ability to repress – or, in many cases, directly abetting – massive criminality.
The regime in Caracas menaces American security and has engaged in repeated assaults on our citizens. It has expropriated private property through nationalization of industry, has driven a mass exodus of its forlorn populace to countries including the US, and has driven large-scale drug trafficking into America. Its close-knit relationships with transnational criminal organizations like the notorious Tren de Aragua (TdA) allow it to engage in indirect attacks on our society. TdA was designated by the Trump administration as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in one of the president’s earliest acts in office. He has made countering this violent criminal group a major priority; he should treat the regime that officially supports them just as harshly.
Venezuela routinely consorts with America’s enemies. Caracas has deep ties to the Communist regime in Cuba, works closely with Russia, and is aligned with both China and Iran. It has signed defense cooperation agreements with Moscow and routinely uses Cuban soldiers and mercenaries to repress its people. The Maduro regime is a strong proponent of Hezbollah, working with Iran to entrench the terrorist organization in the Western Hemisphere and materially aiding it in its destructive mission. These ties are growing stronger, not weaker, as the Maduro regime takes a more aggressive role in the region. Part of that belligerence involves menacing its peaceful neighbor Guyana and threatening annexation of its sovereign territory.
Venezuela is a serious danger to American interests and domestic security, in spite of its relatively minor status. Its geographic location, sitting astride the demarcation between South and North America, makes it important; its policies make it a threat. The Western Hemisphere is America’s weak underbelly, and Caracas is giving our enemies excellent access to it. We cannot change where Venezuela is situated on the world map, but we can work to change the regime that controls this critical real estate. The fact that this malignant regime lies within our own backyard makes it a good target for regime change. America has a long history of intervening in the Western Hemisphere to preserve our own security, advance our interests, protect liberty, and evict foreign influence. From the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 to the invasions of Grenada and Panama in 1983 and 1989, respectively, the US has maintained its hegemony over our hemisphere. Doing so has advanced peace and prosperity, as well as preserving the unique political traditions of the New World.
Another factor auguring well for regime change in Venezuela is that it was, not so long ago, a thriving pro-American democracy. Before Chávez took power in the 1998 election – after his multiple failed coup attempts – the nation was the richest in Latin America, with a stable economy powered by massive oil reserves and an above-average investment climate. It had a long democratic past going back to Simón Bolívar and the founding of the first independent nation-states in South America. And it backed that up with a strong defense of its own sovereignty against external forces, namely European imperialists, often with American backing. This was all overturned by Chávismo, transforming one of the biggest Latin American success stories into its greatest modern failure. But that was less than three decades ago; the potential to recapture that stolen greatness is palpable.
This makes a policy of regime change against Caracas defensible on moral, historical, and realpolitik grounds. So how should America go about achieving that goal?
Washington has a plethora of tools by which to enact a regime change policy. The US remains the strongest economic force in the world, with immense levers of control over global finance, international trade, and market access. Venezuela is an easy target for such powers. It relies almost exclusively on the export of oil to fund the regime – given its location and our economic heft, we could easily cut off the regime from its financial lifeline. Economic sanctions, including harshly-enforced secondary sanctions on nations that aid Venezuela, would work wonders in shutting down this export business. And if push came to shove, America has the naval strength to physically seize ships violating our sanctions policy. Crafting a strong sanctions regime with no loopholes and enforcing it thoroughly would weaken the regime more than anything else.
Next, we should use our diplomatic power to alienate Caracas from international institutions and the broader global community. It should be a pariah state akin to North Korea and we should work assiduously in international bodies to achieve this. America still exerts a great deal of influence in many of these institutions, including the Organization of American States (OAS), the hemispheric association of nations, and could leverage this to marginalize Venezuela. We do have some closely aligned countries in the hemisphere that could join us, particularly Argentina under Javier Milei, and show a different, more successful way of governing. As part of this campaign, the US should back internal resistance movements, providing them outward rhetorical support and covert material aid. Pressuring the regime while aiding its domestic enemies is the best way to achieve a stable change in regime. Washington should officially recognize and host a government-in-exile that could provisionally run Venezuela before free and fair elections take place.
Additionally, we must go hammer and tongs after the Maduro regime’s criminal allies, both in Venezuela and in the United States. Rolling up transnational criminal organizations like Tren de Aragua should be a primary goal for federal law enforcement. Removing these malignant entities from our shores and imprisoning their members would deal the Venezuelan regime a serious blow, hampering their ability to undermine American society through drugs and migration, cutting off a key source of illicit funds, and weakening their grasp on Venezuelan society. Finally, judicious use of limited military force to contain Venezuela, protect the sovereignty of its neighbors, and enforce sanctions and diplomatic isolation would be a further possibility. This does not require American boots on the ground – although covert operations should remain an option – nor does it require an attack against regime assets. It would merely be another means of maintaining the pressure that has already been built.
The Venezuelan people deserve better than the infinite failures of Chávismo. Its neighbors in the Western Hemisphere deserve better than the unstable, belligerent, evil regime in Caracas. American citizens deserve better than the crime, drugs, and social unrest deliberately exported by the Venezuelan government. With a strategy of regime change, we can create that better future. Maduro must go, and we must make him.