'A spirit of reconquest has taken hold in Washington, particularly driven by Secretary of State Marco Rubio'

B

y bombing several strategic sites in Caracas and abducting the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, as well as his wife [Cilia Flores] during the night of January 2 to 3, Donald Trump has revived a harsh US imperial posture toward Latin America that many believed to have ended with the close of the Cold War.

Carried out by Delta Force [US special forces], which was behind the elimination of Saddam Hussein in Iraq (2003), the capture of General Manuel Noriega in Panama (1989) and the hunt for Pablo Escobar in Colombia (1993), Operation Absolute Resolve brought back memories of several tragic episodes across the continent. One recalls the CIA-orchestrated ousting of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz (1954), the occupation of the Dominican Republic (1965) and the deployment of US Marines on the island of Grenada (1983).

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US intervention in Venezuela marks new blow to dying international order