

Everything they need to know about Venezuela they learned from ‘Jack Ryan’
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. When Thalia Toha wasn’t sure how to answer her teenage daughter’s question about what just happened in Venezuela, she stumbled on the perfect explainer: a scene from a 2019 episode of “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan." The clip features John Krasinski as CIA analyst Jack Ryan asking a packed lecture hall: ‘What would you assume is the most major threat on the world stage?’ Audience members answered China, Russia and North Korea until Ryan explained it’s Venezuela, thanks to its oil and mineral-rich land and corrupt strongman leader who tanked the economy. That scene has gone viral and prompted many to ask whether its creators predicted the future six years before American troops captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and brought him to the U.S.
to face federal drug trafficking charges. One Instagram reel of the clip got 40 million views in two days and has fueled a resurgence of interest in the Prime Video series, which ended after season four in 2023. More than a week after the news, “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan" remains in the top 10 most watched shows on the Amazon.com streaming service.
For Toha, it was a succinct entrypoint on the complex subject for her teenage daughter. “The ‘Jack Ryan’ clip doesn’t just help give the event more color, it also brings nuances, in a matter of minutes, that would’ve been hard for kids to understand," said Colorado mom Toha. “The reaction from my kids after watching the video was priceless.
It was like seeing a lightbulb moment reveal itself on their faces." The episode isn’t exactly an answer key to a current-events quiz. Professor Ryan got a few things wrong. For one, Venezuela doesn’t have “next-gen nuclear missiles" on its soil, as the character
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