U.S. Colonial Gangsterism in Venezuela

In this episode, we discuss how the latest U.S. assault on Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro are part of a centuries-long project of American imperial domination in Latin America. The goal isn't just to take over Venezuela’s oil reserves. The deeper objective of a new Monroe Doctrine is to control the Western Hemisphere and block China and other rivals from gaining influence. What happened in Venezuela also reveals something bigger: An empire in decline, without a mask, using brute force to discipline its "backyard." At stake is the future of sovereignty and whether any other country can refuse submission to U.S. power.We break down why Venezuela has been relentlessly targeted, from the moment Hugo Chávez asserted control over the country’s oil and challenged local elites and foreign capital. We place Venezuela within the longer history of U.S. coups, dictatorships, and dirty wars across Latin America.We also talk about the political power of a reactionary, white upper-class opposition that has repeatedly aligned itself with Washington against the country’s poor and working-class majority.