Can the ‘Donroe doctrine’ really change Venezuela? |
During the early hours of Saturday January 3, an official statement from the White House, signed by President Trump, confirmed that the US had captured both President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and taken them out of Venezuela.
At 2 a.m. sharp, thunderous sounds echoed through the capital city, part of what Trump called today “an assault not seen since World War Two… one of the most stunning displays of military might and competence in American history.” It was certainly an attack unlike anything ever seen in Venezuela. Within two hours, all of Caracas looked like a massive fireball, communications were down and areas were without power.
The US deployed fighter jets in strategic areas: they bombed and destroyed the Port of La Guaira (Venezuela’s most important port), as well as El Cuartel de la Montaña, a security and military base created by Hugo Chávez on top of a mountain, as well as various military and intelligence installations. The headquarters of the DGCIM – Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence – burned down.
The Maduro regime issued a lengthy official statement, attributing the attack to the United States, saying, “The objective of this attack is none other than to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals, attempting to forcibly break the nation’s political independence. They will not succeed.”
Military sources told me that the Army and National Guard control access routes to major cities. The attack took Venezuelan authorities and military forces completely by surprise, and they were unable to repel the attacks, which ceased after almost two hours. However, airspace over Caracas remains filled with American fighter jets. AH-1Z helicopters struck against military and intelligence targets, including airports, barracks, the Federal Legislative Palace and Fort Tiuna, the country’s largest military base. Many areas of Caracas were without power, including the poorest neighborhoods and the Higuerote Military Base, home to all of Venezuela’s war helicopters, which the US attacks destroyed.
This puts the Venezuelan military in a truly precarious position. Only one major objective remains, where the battle will be fierce: the city of Maracay.
A high-ranking military officer told me around 3 a.m. today that........