Crystal-gazing American unilateralism |
During the very first week of this year, on January 3, the US conducted Operation 'Absolute Resolve' to kidnap President Maduro of Venezuela, along with his wife from the capital Caracas, at night when both were asleep is a discreet safehouse. The Operation was long in the offing, ostensibly for Venezuelan oil and other riches, although Maduro was no saint. Almost a year in the planning, the CIA bought the loyalties of Maduro's inner circle in a sordid tale of betrayal.
Sea flotilla, stealth helicopters, Delta Force, covert agents and law enforcement personnel raided one of Maduro's residences at Fuerte Tiuna. Over 150 USAF planes suppressed Venezuelan air defences. Carrier group Iowa Jima, and Marines were placed, just in case. The operation was successfully conducted within 150 minutes with clinical military precision and brilliance. This operation occurred exactly 35 years after American forces had invaded Panama to haul Manual Noriega on January 3, 1990, during Operation 'Just Cause'. Maduro, like Noriega, was charged with drug smuggling and other crimes in the US.
The recently released National Security Strategy by the Trump Administration reiterates US dominance in the Western Hemisphere, especially in the Americas, particularly in Latin America, America's presumed backyard, where Washington has historically intervened. During, and after the Cold War (1947-1991), the US conducted regime change operations to remove left-wing Soviet/Russian-backed leaders in numerous coup d'états, in economic and military interventions and domination operations, in most of the 35 countries in North/Central America (Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, etc); South America (Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, etc); and the Caribbean (Grenada, Cuba, Haiti, Dominic........