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Can anyone give an overview of what has happened in Venezuela since Maduro took over and what the beef is between him and Trump? Looks like US going to start ex

Can anyone give an overview of what has happened in Venezuela since Maduro took over and what the beef is between him and Trump? Looks like US going to start exporting Freedom again..

diego_moita 1y ago
> Can anyone give an overview of what has happened in Venezuela since Maduro took over Venezuela became more authoritarian and poorer. The oil industry collapsed because of mismanagement and the production of drugs rose. Venezuelans fled to Colombia, Brazil, the U.S., everywhere. The usual stuff for 3rd World dictatorships. > what the beef is between him and Trump? The same beef Trump has with everyone that he can blame for anything. Trump just wants a scapegoat for his own incompetence, to blame someone else. He thrives on confrontation. That's why he sends troops to Chicago and L.A. and battleships to the Caribean.
- pydry 1y ago
  The world is filled with poor, authoritarian countries. That has nothing to do with why the US would send a carrier group their way. This is about empire and oil. Venezuela could be an identical country in every respect and if Maduro was a puppet of the United States sitting on the world's largest oil reserves instead of an opponent the New York Times would be writing stories about how they're reforming and improving.
  - gengwyn 1y ago
    To be fair, going by the track record, if Venezuela was an oil rich government under a U.S. supported authoritarian, Caracas would look more like Riyadh and there’d be no need for cruisers. Not saying it justifies Trump’s action in the slightest. Just a point of order.
    - pydry 1y ago
      It was quite a bit like Riyadh before Chavez swept to power in a landslide election in 98. The first US backed coup dedicated to overthrowing that pretty clear cut democratic decision came in 2003. That woman who won the nobel prize recently also supported it, so...democracy clearly isnt her thing either.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
joyeuse6701 1y ago
NYTimes had a decent daily podcast episode recently that covered opposing strategies the administration had towards Venezuela. The hawks being led by Rubio.
dwood_dev 1y ago
Let me preface this one with the statement that I am completely against regime change wars. This is one scenario where it might actually have a positive outcome. Maduro looks to have barely won his reelection in 2018. The 2024 election he lost, badly. All the individual precinct results had him at 30-40%. Conveniently, the central election database was "hacked" and they lost all the final numbers. But not to worry, Maduro definitely won! Was the CIA/USAID involved? Almost certainly, and in 2018 it was barely hidden. The U.S. has been meddling in Venezuela long before Chavez came to power, and has not helped the situation in any way. Even given all that, the Venezuelan people want Maduro gone. The help of the U.S. to remove the regime might actually have a positive end. This isn't like other countries where the U.S. foisted democracy upon a population that had never experienced it. Venezuela has been imploding, for years. Nearly 8 million people have left in the last decade. The diaspora represents nearly 1/4 of all Venezuelans.
- azernik 1y ago
  Why do you think USAID of all groups was involved in election meddling? Their involvement in US foreign policy is usually along the lines of PR and sometimes being used as cover.
  - dwood_dev 1y ago
    The entire point of USAID was to be a central clearinghouse for funding U.S. government pet projects so that the CIA/DoD/DoS stopped funding opposite sides against each other. Didn't always work (See the Middle East), but that's why it exists.
    - azernik 1y ago
      That was not, in fact, the point of USAID. Nor its function in reality.
- apexalpha 1y ago
  Would you approve of unilateral military action against the US, including extrajudicial murders by Venezuelan armed forces off the coast of California, if Trump fucks with the next election?
eagerpace 1y ago
You seem to have formed an opinion without an understand of what has happened in Venezuela. I suggest you look up the history of the recent 2025 Noble Peace Prize winner and let her explain to you what has gone on in the country over the last 20 years.
- nielsbot 1y ago
  summarize? or do you have a preferred source?
thrance 1y ago
As history has shown, America is perfectly fine with dictatorships in South America, they've even installed several of them, like Pinochet's. Maduro is the wrong kind of South American dictator, i.e. one that doesn't bend the knee to American interests. Trump threatening to overthrow him and put a nationalist puppet that will sell out to America is not unusual for a US president. To be clear, I am not defending Maduro. Everyone sucks here, but let's not be fooled, this will not improve Venezuelans lives. Just look at what happened to Chile and the others.
- mmooss 1y ago
  That was decades ago, during the Cold War when the US thought right-wing dictators were more stable partners against the Soviet Union. Since then, almost all of the Americas south of the US became democracies.
csomar 1y ago
Venezuela exports most of its oil to China. Taking control of Venezuela strengthen the US energy system and remove one important supplier for China.
- IAmGraydon 1y ago
  Only 4% of China’s oil imports come from Venezuela, and most of it is resold to other nations. It isn’t significant.
exasperaited 1y ago
Maduro manipulated and arguably stole an election in 2019 rather than give up power to interests who the US prefers. I mean, this time round: the man is unequivocally not good. No one thinks Maduro's regime is legitimate — there's pretty broad consensus in North and South America. Internationally he has less support than Hugo Chavez had, because he has no legitimacy at home. But the reality is still the same: old-fashioned interests in the USA want much more control over what happens in Venezuela, what Venezuela sells to and to whom. Trump, spurned for admiration and a Nobel peace prize, wants a war presidency now, because that's an easier source of narcissistic supply. (And also as he has mused in the past, perhaps a source of "wartime powers", which may most simply explain why he's renamed the DoD to the Department of War: it's all part of the narrative he is building for himself and his supporters.) He knows nobody is going to have a credible argument that Maduro is legitimate but we're back in the second gulf war territory: the "why now" of it. He is picking a fight and waiting for them to lash out.

Can anyone give an overview of what has happened in Venezuela since Maduro took over and what the beef is between him and Trump? Looks like US going to start exporting Freedom again..

diego_moita 1y ago

> Can anyone give an overview of what has happened in Venezuela since Maduro took over Venezuela became more authoritarian and poorer. The oil industry collapsed because of mismanagement and the production of drugs rose. Venezuelans fled to Colombia, Brazil, the U.S., everywhere. The usual stuff for 3rd World dictatorships. > what the beef is between him and Trump? The same beef Trump has with everyone that he can blame for anything. Trump just wants a scapegoat for his own incompetence, to blame someone else. He thrives on confrontation. That's why he sends troops to Chicago and L.A. and battleships to the Caribean.

pydry 1y ago
The world is filled with poor, authoritarian countries. That has nothing to do with why the US would send a carrier group their way. This is about empire and oil. Venezuela could be an identical country in every respect and if Maduro was a puppet of the United States sitting on the world's largest oil reserves instead of an opponent the New York Times would be writing stories about how they're reforming and improving.
- gengwyn 1y ago
  To be fair, going by the track record, if Venezuela was an oil rich government under a U.S. supported authoritarian, Caracas would look more like Riyadh and there’d be no need for cruisers. Not saying it justifies Trump’s action in the slightest. Just a point of order.
  - pydry 1y ago
    It was quite a bit like Riyadh before Chavez swept to power in a landslide election in 98. The first US backed coup dedicated to overthrowing that pretty clear cut democratic decision came in 2003. That woman who won the nobel prize recently also supported it, so...democracy clearly isnt her thing either.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

joyeuse6701 1y ago

NYTimes had a decent daily podcast episode recently that covered opposing strategies the administration had towards Venezuela. The hawks being led by Rubio.

dwood_dev 1y ago

Let me preface this one with the statement that I am completely against regime change wars. This is one scenario where it might actually have a positive outcome. Maduro looks to have barely won his reelection in 2018. The 2024 election he lost, badly. All the individual precinct results had him at 30-40%. Conveniently, the central election database was "hacked" and they lost all the final numbers. But not to worry, Maduro definitely won! Was the CIA/USAID involved? Almost certainly, and in 2018 it was barely hidden. The U.S. has been meddling in Venezuela long before Chavez came to power, and has not helped the situation in any way. Even given all that, the Venezuelan people want Maduro gone. The help of the U.S. to remove the regime might actually have a positive end. This isn't like other countries where the U.S. foisted democracy upon a population that had never experienced it. Venezuela has been imploding, for years. Nearly 8 million people have left in the last decade. The diaspora represents nearly 1/4 of all Venezuelans.

azernik 1y ago
Why do you think USAID of all groups was involved in election meddling? Their involvement in US foreign policy is usually along the lines of PR and sometimes being used as cover.
- dwood_dev 1y ago
  The entire point of USAID was to be a central clearinghouse for funding U.S. government pet projects so that the CIA/DoD/DoS stopped funding opposite sides against each other. Didn't always work (See the Middle East), but that's why it exists.
  - azernik 1y ago
    That was not, in fact, the point of USAID. Nor its function in reality.
apexalpha 1y ago
Would you approve of unilateral military action against the US, including extrajudicial murders by Venezuelan armed forces off the coast of California, if Trump fucks with the next election?

eagerpace 1y ago

You seem to have formed an opinion without an understand of what has happened in Venezuela. I suggest you look up the history of the recent 2025 Noble Peace Prize winner and let her explain to you what has gone on in the country over the last 20 years.

nielsbot 1y ago
summarize? or do you have a preferred source?

thrance 1y ago

As history has shown, America is perfectly fine with dictatorships in South America, they've even installed several of them, like Pinochet's. Maduro is the wrong kind of South American dictator, i.e. one that doesn't bend the knee to American interests. Trump threatening to overthrow him and put a nationalist puppet that will sell out to America is not unusual for a US president. To be clear, I am not defending Maduro. Everyone sucks here, but let's not be fooled, this will not improve Venezuelans lives. Just look at what happened to Chile and the others.

mmooss 1y ago
That was decades ago, during the Cold War when the US thought right-wing dictators were more stable partners against the Soviet Union. Since then, almost all of the Americas south of the US became democracies.

csomar 1y ago

Venezuela exports most of its oil to China. Taking control of Venezuela strengthen the US energy system and remove one important supplier for China.

IAmGraydon 1y ago
Only 4% of China’s oil imports come from Venezuela, and most of it is resold to other nations. It isn’t significant.

exasperaited 1y ago

Maduro manipulated and arguably stole an election in 2019 rather than give up power to interests who the US prefers. I mean, this time round: the man is unequivocally not good. No one thinks Maduro's regime is legitimate — there's pretty broad consensus in North and South America. Internationally he has less support than Hugo Chavez had, because he has no legitimacy at home. But the reality is still the same: old-fashioned interests in the USA want much more control over what happens in Venezuela, what Venezuela sells to and to whom. Trump, spurned for admiration and a Nobel peace prize, wants a war presidency now, because that's an easier source of narcissistic supply. (And also as he has mused in the past, perhaps a source of "wartime powers", which may most simply explain why he's renamed the DoD to the Department of War: it's all part of the narrative he is building for himself and his supporters.) He knows nobody is going to have a credible argument that Maduro is legitimate but we're back in the second gulf war territory: the "why now" of it. He is picking a fight and waiting for them to lash out.