The last time an American president ordered troops to snatch a Latin American strongman, I was a young journalist half a world away, watching grainy footage of Operation Just Cause on a bulky television set. The 1989 invasion of Panama, which resulted in the capture and eventual trial of Manuel Noriega on drug trafficking charges, is remembered in Washington as a model intervention: quick, decisive, and blessedly free of the quagmire that would come to define American military adventures in the decades that followed.

It’s no surprise, then, that the architects of President Trump’s “large-scale strike” on Venezuela are inviting comparisons to Panama. The framing is almost identical: a corrupt narco-dictator, a surgical operation, an extraction to face American justice. On Saturday morning, as smoke rose over Caracas and Venezuelans ran through darkened streets, Trump hailed what he called a “brilliant operation” with “great, great troops.” Nicolás Maduro and his wife, he announced, had been captured and flown out of the country.

But Venezuela is not Panama. And if the Trump Administration believes it can replicate the success of Just Cause, it is setting itself up for a rude awakening.

Read more: Trump Says U.S. Has Captured Venezuelan President Following ‘Large-Scale’ Strike

Start with the most obvious difference: geography and American presence. When George H.W. Bush ordered the invasion of Panama, the United States had more than 10,000 troops already stationed there. The........

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