When Donald Trump campaigned on an ‘America First’ platform, the promise was clear: pull the United States out of costly overseas conflicts.
So when US armed forces now go into action against Venezuela, critics are asking whether Trump has crossed the very line he once vowed not to.
Although Trump’s allies argue that the Venezuela operation still fits ‘America First’ logic. “The Western hemisphere is America’s neighbourhood, and we will protect it,” Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier.
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Three strategic aims behind US pressure on Venezuela
Notably, pressure on Venezuela has been building for months. Earlier this year, Washington authorised air strikes on boats suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean. Those actions were lamented as defending the US homeland from narcotics flowing north.
However, those broader aims include weakening a hard-Left government in Washington’s immediate neighbourhood, curbing Chinese influence in the Caribbean, and unlocking access to one of the world’s largest oil reserves. The strikes have been accompanied by a major military buildup, including approximately 15,000 US troops and substantial amounts of hardware deployed across the region.
Washington has long refused to recognise Nicolás Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president. Marco Rubio has been particularly vocal about removing Maduro from power. The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio has argued that Maduro’s fall would also weaken communist Cuba, one of Caracas’s closest allies.
Rubio has worked closely with Stephen Miller, a senior Trump aide, to push the case that Maduro and his inner circle must face drug-trafficking charges filed in 2020. This year, the US raised its reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million.
US military build-up sends a clear signal to Venezuela’s opposition
Interestingly, one source familiar with the administration told the Telegraph, “We want a hemispheric defence from Greenland in the Arctic to block the Russian navy up there ... all the way down to the Panama Canal.”
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“Then there is the mission to keep the Chinese out of the Caribbean where they’re already infested. And then there’s a big aspect of Venezuela. Venezuela could fund a lot of it, if you get it rolling the right way.”
Trump has privately discussed gaining access to Venezuela’s estimated 300 billion barrels of oil. When talks failed, US forces began seizing tankers carrying Venezuelan crude, choking supplies to Cuba, Russia and China.
China has loaned Venezuela an estimated $60 billion and recently extended a $4 billion credit line, to be repaid in oil.
