US Military Intervention In Venezuela?

Don't Be Surprised

The current political and economic climate in Venezuela is rather hectic, to put it kindly. Yesterday President Trump brought up the possibility of a military operation in Venezuela. To students of the history of US-Latin American relations, this really should not come as a surprise.

Since the establishment of the Monroe Doctrine, and arguably before it, the United States has positioned itself as a regional power in the Americas. The United States has led economics and politics in the region through various means. Through the use of military force and gunboat diplomacy or through American economic ventures ensuring that US interests are always the focus, the United States has been an important actor throughout Latin American history.

The United States has viewed itself as relatively superior to the members of Latin American countries and societies. A good historical example of this was when Henry Ford attempted to recreate his economic successes with the Ford Motor Company in the United States with his Latin American venture Fordlandia. The failure of Fordlandia is emblematic of United States foreign policy regarding Latin America, we assume that whatever works in the United States will just work everywhere else and that everyone will be happy with it. The Organization of American States (OAS) is an organization to push this conception of US-Latin American relations. The OAS brings together Latin American nations, with the United States at the head, to push political and economic policy that is beneficial to the United States, no matter how Latin American populations feel.

With this mindset at the forefront, leftist politics have been repressed in the region by United States policy. The leftist political culture of Latin America exists because of ventures similar to Fordlandia and the creation, and protection, of banana republics (along with similar arrangements). The United States, and/or its citizens, would own large industries within Latin American nations and would then influence politics and governments to protect their interests. American economic interests came before the rights and lives of Latin American residents. Leftist political policy proposals throughout history would largely have eliminated the influence of the United States within the region and various nations.

History is full of examples of the United States intervening to protect American interests in the nations and regions of Latin America where leftist, or just simple anti-American, politics either did or could have gained power and influence. When Salvador Allende gained power in Chile, he promised to nationalize the various United States owned industries. The United States led a failed coup against Allende soon after his election. Pinochet would eventually lead a successful coup and adopt brutal economic policies with influence from United States Chicago school. Whether he had United States support is debated but not strongly doubted.

The Iran-Contra affair of the Reagan administration is another important piece of relatively forgotten history. Reagan effectively funded a hard right brutal counter-revolutionary group, the Contras. They violently fought against Sandinista political and economic policies, which are best described as being anti-United States. This lead to widespread human suffering in the region.

There are countless other examples throughout history of the United States intervening in Latin America to protect supposed United States economic interests. Venezuela has the chance to be the next page in the disappointing history of US-Latin American relations.

Venezuela sits on an incredible reserve of crude oil, a state-owned company currently controls the entire Venezuelan oil industry. This prevents United States companies from profiting off the oil as much as they potentially could. Venezuela is argued to be a socialist state, there are many large social programs. the dominant mode of American schools of economics are largely opposed to this type of governmental and economic structure.

Venezuela represents another situation in Latin American that is opposed to United States "beliefs", don't be surprised if something happens. It may be direct US military intervention that calls back to gunboat diplomacy, or it may be more similar to the coups and revolutionary (or counter-revolutionary) groups that have been secretly funded and supported.