Are Russia and China, the BRICS, willing to continue to let Trump redraw the ‘mappa mundi’ according to his own exclusive interests? Or is it time to see a real alternative to US hegemony take shape?

The kidnapping of a foreign president in violation of international law on the spurious charge of drug trafficking is as credible as the episode of the ‘weapons of mass destruction in Iraq’, given that Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, most of which, due to its density and characteristics, can only be refined, curiously enough, in the US.

The supposed fight against drug trafficking can only fool the distracted or uninformed. Just a month ago, Donald Trump himself granted a presidential pardon to drug trafficker and former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving a 45-year sentence for smuggling 400 tonnes of cocaine into the US. The elections in the Central American country and support for candidate Nasry Asfura, from the same National Party as Orlando Hernández, were part of the agreement that brought the right wing back to Tegucigalpa. An important regional ally for Trump.

Venezuela is a giant in terms of natural resources, one of the richest countries in the world. It is not just oil. Agriculture, fisheries, coffee, and meat in abundance can all be commoditised. Like Argentina, already in the North American sphere, the US needs to insert all this wealth into the highly speculative global financial system controlled by the dollar, in the face of the growing threat of alternatives within the BRICS.

Although the future of Venezuela, which for now keeps the Chavistas and the military in power, is unclear, this adventure, entirely led by the War Department, could spark tensions and even civil confrontation in the Caribbean country. The........

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