

Caracas shock: The failure of South American leaders paved the way for US intervention in Venezuela
Removing Venezuela’s dictator introduced ‘Trump’s Corollary’ in Latin America with an exclamation point. The White House’s updated take on the Monroe Doctrine had its baptism of fire on Saturday, when US forces captured Nicolás Maduro at his Caracas stronghold, decapitating the Chavista regime responsible for bankrupting one of the world’s richest oil nations. Less than a month after Washington unveiled a new National Security Strategy pledging to restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere—by force if necessary—Maduro and his wife were on their way to New York to face “narco-terrorism” charges.
Capped by Donald Trump’s subsequent vow to temporarily run Venezuela outright, that day will feature in history books for decades. For Latin America, this is a blunt reminder: When divided regional leaders fail to produce homegrown solutions to their gravest crises, the risk that the US will step in—and act alone—is ever present. That risk is heightened by the return of great-power competition and Trump’s transactional, spheres-of-influence world-view.
The region now faces the uncomfortable prospect of the US remotely administering a mid-sized South American country bordering Brazil and holding the world’s largest oil reserves, with little regional input.Reactions among the region’s leaders split along predictable ideological lines. Leftist governments in Brazil, Chile and Mexico joined Cuba in condemning the intervention that violated Venezuela’s sovereignty. Right-leaning leaders in Argentina and Ecuador welcomed the departure of the hated moustachioed dictator.
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