It was the dark fantasy of the Bolivarian movement, a apocalyptic scenario repeated so frequently – each version more elaborate than the previous one – until it almost became a political punchline: an American invasion is imminent.
Hugo Chávez, who ruled Venezuela from 1999 to 2013, warned of this possibility repeatedly, claiming that the American leadership and their agents in the US intelligence and military were plotting a strike.
Spies, saboteurs, assassins, elite troops, hired guns, aerial bombardments, chemical agents, naval vessels, combat aircraft – the empire would use every tool to crush Venezuela’s socialist project and overthrow its government.
“Would it be so strange that they’ve invented the technology to induce illness and we wouldn't discover about it for 50 years?” he famously mused in 2011, while battling for cancer.
This was, to a significant degree, political drama. A confection of claims to excuse centralized power, burnish anti-imperialism credentials and discredit dissent. Over time, even some supporters expressed skepticism at tales of the American specter.
Fantasy Turns to Fact
Yet now, more than ten years after an sick Chávez transferred authority to his protege, Nicolás Maduro, the prophesied event is real. This past weekend American military units bombed Caracas and apprehended Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores – the “empire” of Chávez’s rhetoric realized in full.
Amid the surprise and confusion about what happens next, there is a surreal twist. Over many years, Chavismo – the ideology passed on by the late president – amplified the US threat in order to warn of nonexistent dangers. When the danger finally arrived, he turned out to be an American version of Chávez.
Parallels in Strongman Tactics
The former US president's strongman approach mirrors the Venezuelan strongman: both masters of thunder and dazzle who created sharp splits, silenced criticism and co-opted state bodies. The businessman-turned-politician naturally varies in numerous aspects from an army officer who adopted anti-capitalist policies – but his capacity to channel frustration, shatter conventions, suck up all the oxygen and turn power into a TV show are strikingly similar.
The paradox is profound that the most dramatic act of this presidency is the mission to seize the revolutionary successor. With global legal frameworks ignored, and the nation's citizens oscillate from elation and anxiety, history has completed a bizarre circularity.
A History of Tensions and Plots
Two decades ago, George W. Bush’s administration gave quiet support to a political uprising that briefly ousted Chávez – a move that drew parallels to the period of superpower rivalry, when the CIA destabilized leftist leaders across Latin America.
Chávez, supported by barrio-dwellers and the armed forces, was restored, won fresh electoral mandates and spent the following years mocking Bush as a fool, a caricature, an evil figure. After the American military action in the Middle East – based on false claims about Iraq's military capabilities – many around the world echoed Chávez’s perspective of the US president.
Chávez made repeated claims of US conspiracies against him. Considering historical attempts and American armed actions in the Caribbean and Central America, a move against Venezuela was conceivable. However, it did not occur. Washington continued to buy Venezuela’s oil and took no direct action while Chávez weakened his economic foundations.
Maduro Continues the Narrative
Maduro, assuming power in 2013, persisted with the fiction of an approaching US military threat. As economic conditions deteriorated and popular support fading, Maduro needed to engage in vote fraud to retain control – and a Yankee bogeyman was increasingly valuable.
In recent months, the US figure employed exaggerations and falsehoods. He accused Maduro of heading a “drug-trafficking” cartel that was “dumping” the US with drugs – an expansion of Venezuela’s role as a conduit for illicit substances.
Declarations of Victory and Control
“This was one of the most stunning, successful and dominant displays of the Pentagon's capability and competence in American history,” officials announced. “No state in the world could accomplish what America achieved.”
The US raiders disabled electricity to Caracas thanks “using specialized knowledge that we have”, facilitating a smooth action that extracted a strongman, as described.
Where he rests, this represents a grim fulfillment. He used to blame blackouts – the consequence of a dilapidated infrastructure – on imperialist plots. He frequently argued the northern empire wished to reinstate a 19th-century doctrine of US pre-eminence, and here was a declaration of “supremacy”.
This includes the US administering Venezuela for an indefinite period. “We will administer the nation until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” was announced. He added: “We’re going to have our very large US petroleum corporations... enter the country, spend billions of dollars, repair the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.”
Uncertainty and a New Chapter
The political landscape was made unclear by statements about engaging figures from the previous government.
The people of Venezuela, including the exiles abroad, are about to find out if they have escaped a long national nightmare or fallen further into nightmare.
