Four readings of Trump's attack on Venezuela
It only took us 48 hours to witness the first major event of 2026: The United States has bombed Venezuela with imperial force. Subsequently, a group of elite US soldiers captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Some interpretations of Washington's aggression help explain the urgent moment and the world in which we live.
'America first'?
Donald Trump returned to the White House reiterating that his predecessor, Joe Biden, had been the president of war and that he would be the president of peace. The Republican also reclaimed the White House chair by once again waving the "America first- his great slogan of the first term - and assuring his compatriots that with him the United States would not get involved in international conflicts. Fake newsOne year, an eternity, later in office, Trump has made the use of force and the threat of violence the hallmark that most identifies his foreign policyIncreasingly aggressive, more radical, more unpredictable. In 2025, the United States directly bombed seven countries: Venezuela, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, and Nigeria. And threatened several more: Colombia, Canada, Greenland, Mexico, Panama... I don't know if the constant humiliations in the European Union, which will increase in 2026, should be included on the list.
Trump boasts of having ended the Gaza war and presents himself as the only leader capable of doing the same in Ukraine. The reality is that the Middle East peace agreement is fragile, incomplete, and, for the moment, does not lay the foundations for political and social reconstruction in the Gaza Strip. The reality is also that in Ukraine—where he had promised a ceasefire within 24 hours— Washington still hasn't found a way out of the warAnd when it does, peace will benefit – and reward – Vladimir Putin in a way that is far too dangerous.
Landscape of wild beasts
Trump's shift in foreign policy is the most palpable proof that the law of the strongest prevails once again in today's world. Coinciding with the 15th anniversary of the ARA San Juan, we in the newsroom imagined a game: What would the readers of the 2010 newspaper think about the events that occurred during these years? Most people wouldn't believe that Europe would again experience a war where soldiers are killed at the rate of World War II. Or that Benjamin Netanyahu would receive unconditional support for much of his genocidal war against Gaza. Or that Denmark would ask the European Union for help for fear of a Washington invasion of Greenland. We are approaching political fiction, or perhaps better, 19th-century geopolitics—as more and more experts insist—that is, an era marked by imperial expansion and the struggle for power between the great powers.
From the perspective of international law, the American bombs falling in the early hours on half of Venezuela are another enormous challenge to respect for the global order. Just as the Russian invasion of Ukraine was, and The Israeli bombs that have fallen in the Middle East in recent months: Lebanon, Syria, YemenTrump's attack comes on the third day of the new year. A few kilometers further east, Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his New Year's Eve address, asserted that the reunification of China and Taiwan is "inevitable" and insisted that it remains a central and unwavering objective of the Beijing government. If Trump bombs Venezuela, captures the president, and seeks to force a change of government there—the same strategy, incidentally, that Putin wanted to pursue in Ukraine—who can stop China from doing the same in Taiwan?
'No war, yes peace'
Nicolás Maduro has spent part of the last few weeks singing and dancing. The Venezuelan president had himself recorded singing pacifist songs to counter the war drums that were insistently resonating from Washington. One of his melodies went viral worldwide. It's a remix with repeated phrases:No war, yes peace" (not in war, but in peace);No blood for oil(we don't want blood for oil); "No crazy war"(not in the mad war)... The music has ended and it's about Maduro, who now has most of the questions. How did they get to him? Were people he trusted betrayed him? In the mid-afternoon, Trump delivered the proof of life requested from Caracas: a photo of him dressed in a gray tracksuit, his eyes and ears covered, being held in a war zone. It was a historic photo.
The big question, however, is whether Maduro's fall implies the fall of his government. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez's appearance confirmed Chavismo's loyalty to Maduro, Chávez's heir, who handpicked him. Addressing Trump, who minutes earlier had said that Washington intended to take control of Venezuela—and its oil—Rodríguez sounded emphatic: "We will not be a colony, and our only president is Maduro."
On the other side of the table, also quite bewildered, was the Venezuelan opposition, which celebrated the White House's coup. Early on, all eyes were on María Corina Machado, winner of the latest Nobel Peace Prize—an award that, incidentally, Trump coveted. Questions piled up: Would Washington make her president? How would the streets of Venezuela react? Trump downplayed these questions with a rather surprising statement: Machado doesn't have enough respect to lead the country now. Maduro's immediate future is almost as uncertain as Venezuela's.
Waiting for Beijing and Moscow
The first official reaction from Moscow to Washington's bombing of Caracas is, at the very least, somewhat amusing: "We demand an immediate clarification of the situation. These actions [referring to the bombings and, especially, the capture of Maduro], if they have indeed taken place, constitute an unacceptable violation of international law," stated the Russian Foreign Ministry. Beyond these empty words, it will be interesting to see the actual reaction of Moscow and, above all, Beijing to the US aggression. In recent weeks, and in the face of Washington's massive military deployment, Both Putin and Xi Jinping, Maduro's great allies, had asked Trump to be prudent.
But in politics, what matters most is often what is said when the microphones are off. Perhaps Putin, with whom Trump speaks frequently enough by phone about Ukraine, already knew the US intentions and is now collecting the favor at the Ukrainian negotiating table. Perhaps Xi isn't so bothered by Washington's gesture and is ceding his influence over Venezuela in exchange for gaining it in another area of the global chessboard. Europe, as it has done lately, simply recites the classic "deeply concerned", a This expression is often used to disguise the growing strategic irrelevance—which is now a strategic vulnerability—of the European Union. Those who have shown the most concern are the majority of Latin American leaders—with the exception of Argentina's Javier Milei, a protégé of Trump— a region threatened once again by a wave of US interventionThe most distraught faces this Saturday in January would be in Cuba, a great American desire that has also trembled with the explosion of each bomb. gringa on Venezuelan soil.
Throughout Latin America, a mantra is being repeated insistently: we must fear a new wave of intervention from our northern neighbors.
