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It is true that deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was a caudillo who rigged elections, repressed opponents and presided over a wrecked economy. It is also true that his United Socialist Party of Venezuela, formed by Hugo Chávez in 2007, is among the very few in Latin American history to make a tangible, committed effort to lift up its nation’s poor.
Maduro served in Chávez’s administration, first as foreign minister and then as vice president. He stands in the dock today not because of his crimes, both real and imagined, but because he, like Chávez, tried to use his country’s resources to fund education, healthcare, housing and other social services, incurring the wrath of local elites, American and European multinational corporations, and the American government.
Maduro’s handling of the economy was clumsy and heavy-handed. He presided over an historic economic collapse, with inflation topping 300,000 percent in July 2019. He also faced devastating U.S.-led economic sanctions.
According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, sanctions greatly reduced the food and medicine available, leading to a sharp increase in disease and mortality and tens of thousands of deaths between 2017 and 2019.
The Venezuelan economy has also been undermined from within. When socialistic measures such as price and capital controls are introduced under capitalism, the diminished business climate often leads domestic and international businesses to reduce investments and downsize their workforces.
Maduro was also simply unlucky: Oil prices dropped from $96 a barrel when he took office in March of 2013 to $26 a barrel in February 2015 and to $15.18 in April 2020.
The Venezuelan opposition often channeled frustration over economic conditions into protests and, at times, street violence against government forces. Opposition leader María Corina Machado has repeatedly voiced support for U.S. sanctions, despite the devastation they wrought.
The Trump administration has struck more than 30 alleged narco‑trafficking boats off the coast of Venezuela since September, killing an estimated 115 people. While many authorities denounce these attacks as “war crimes” and “murder,” Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, defends them.
Machado also calls for “full privatization” of industry in Venezuela, which in practice would mean a mass sell-off to Western, principally American, companies and investors. An outspoken advocate for the interests of the European-descended Venezuelan elite, many Venezuelans see her as disloyal. Even Trump acknowledges she does not have the “respect within or the support within [Venezuela]” to lead.
Some of Maduro’s repression is indefensible, but it’s not hard to see why he would feel justified repressing opposition leaders who are openly working with foreign powers to harm Venezuela. Moreover, even facing the unrelenting hostility of the world’s most powerful nation, human rights in Venezuela don’t seem that much worse than in many countries with whom the U.S. enjoys friendly relations.
Amnesty International’s Venezuela report for 2024-2025 condemns Maduro for “excessive use of force and possible extrajudicial executions … impunity prevailed for human rights violations.” It similarly says that in Mexico, “Human rights violations by the military and National Guard continued, including possible extrajudicial executions; impunity persisted.” And in Brazil it said, “Impunity persisted for human rights violations committed by state agents. Brazil remained one of the most dangerous countries for land rights defenders.”
What’s next? Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the seizure of Maduro. Although Trump has not spoken ill of her, he discusses potential military action in Mexico, saying “we have to do something.”
Trump rages against the nationalizations of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, but one of the few to survive and succeed was Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas’s 1938 expropriation of American and British oil companies. Cardenas formed and consolidated the expropriated holdings into Petróleos Mexicanos, Mexico’s national oil enterprise, and used the oil profits to fund social services. Britain and the U.S. threatened Mexico but, with their attention on Hitler’s Germany at the time, grudgingly accepted Cardenas’s action. Today, it is widely seen as the most significant gain of the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920.
Chávez and the United Socialist Party, despite their flaws, are admired in Latin America as genuine benefactors of the poor who stood up to Yankee bullying. The hapless Maduro, not so much. But while the Trump administration justifies its actions by ludicrously portraying him as the world’s worst menace, the reality is that Trump’s actions are standard operating procedure for use against leaders, democratic or otherwise, who refuse to go along with American interests and dictates.
It is true that deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was a caudillo who rigged elections, repressed opponents and presided over a wrecked economy. It is also true that his United Socialist Party of Venezuela, formed by Hugo Chávez in 2007, is among the very few in Latin American history to make a tangible, committed effort to lift up its nation’s poor.
Maduro served in Chávez’s administration, first as foreign minister and then as vice president. He stands in the dock today not because of his crimes, both real and imagined, but because he, like Chávez, tried to use his country’s resources to fund education, healthcare, housing and other social services, incurring the wrath of local elites, American and European multinational corporations, and the American government.
Maduro’s handling of the economy was clumsy and heavy-handed. He presided over an historic economic collapse, with inflation topping 300,000 percent in July 2019. He also faced devastating U.S.-led economic sanctions.
According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, sanctions greatly reduced the food and medicine available, leading to a sharp increase in disease and mortality and tens of thousands of deaths between 2017 and 2019.
The Venezuelan economy has also been undermined from within. When socialistic measures such as price and capital controls are introduced under capitalism, the diminished business climate often leads domestic and international businesses to reduce investments and downsize their workforces.
Maduro was also simply unlucky: Oil prices dropped from $96 a barrel when he took office in March of 2013 to $26 a barrel in February 2015 and to $15.18 in April 2020.
The Venezuelan opposition often channeled frustration over economic conditions into protests and, at times, street violence against government forces. Opposition leader María Corina Machado has repeatedly voiced support for U.S. sanctions, despite the devastation they wrought.
The Trump administration has struck more than 30 alleged narco‑trafficking boats off the coast of Venezuela since September, killing an estimated 115 people. While many authorities denounce these attacks as “war crimes” and “murder,” Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, defends them.
Machado also calls for “full privatization” of industry in Venezuela, which in practice would mean a mass sell-off to Western, principally American, companies and investors. An outspoken advocate for the interests of the European-descended Venezuelan elite, many Venezuelans see her as disloyal. Even Trump acknowledges she does not have the “respect within or the support within [Venezuela]” to lead.
Some of Maduro’s repression is indefensible, but it’s not hard to see why he would feel justified repressing opposition leaders who are openly working with foreign powers to harm Venezuela. Moreover, even facing the unrelenting hostility of the world’s most powerful nation, human rights in Venezuela don’t seem that much worse than in many countries with whom the U.S. enjoys friendly relations.
Amnesty International’s Venezuela report for 2024-2025 condemns Maduro for “excessive use of force and possible extrajudicial executions … impunity prevailed for human rights violations.” It similarly says that in Mexico, “Human rights violations by the military and National Guard continued, including possible extrajudicial executions; impunity persisted.” And in Brazil it said, “Impunity persisted for human rights violations committed by state agents. Brazil remained one of the most dangerous countries for land rights defenders.”
What’s next? Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the seizure of Maduro. Although Trump has not spoken ill of her, he discusses potential military action in Mexico, saying “we have to do something.”
Trump rages against the nationalizations of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, but one of the few to survive and succeed was Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas’s 1938 expropriation of American and British oil companies. Cardenas formed and consolidated the expropriated holdings into Petróleos Mexicanos, Mexico’s national oil enterprise, and used the oil profits to fund social services. Britain and the U.S. threatened Mexico but, with their attention on Hitler’s Germany at the time, grudgingly accepted Cardenas’s action. Today, it is widely seen as the most significant gain of the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920.
Chávez and the United Socialist Party, despite their flaws, are admired in Latin America as genuine benefactors of the poor who stood up to Yankee bullying. The hapless Maduro, not so much. But while the Trump administration justifies its actions by ludicrously portraying him as the world’s worst menace, the reality is that Trump’s actions are standard operating procedure for use against leaders, democratic or otherwise, who refuse to go along with American interests and dictates.
