Reactionary Policy and Revolution in Venezuela: Impact on Latin America and the World

By Arnold August – Sep 25, 2025

Regarding the US-led policy, this article primarily draws on references from American and Venezuelan experts, the latter of whom are based both in Venezuela and abroad. For the revolutionary response, I draw mainly on my seven visits to Venezuela, including three trips that coincided with the last election cycle (2024–2025), using my fluency in Spanish to the utmost on the ground.

The US effort to overthrow the Venezuelan government is not new. On April 11, 2002, the democratically elected government of Hugo Chávez Frías was ousted in a military coup. Two days later, the coup was overturned by a mass mobilization of Venezuelans.

The most recent effort took place on September 2, 2025. It involved a false-flag “drug boat” operation intended to destabilize the Maduro government and open the door for military intervention, supposedly with support from factions inside the Venezuelan armed forces.

The new Trump administration’s Venezuela policy initially maintained a low profile. At one point, White House special envoy Richard Grenell travelled to Caracas to meet with President Nicolás Maduro and secure the release of American prisoners.

According to The Intercept, “the brinkmanship belongs to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. By raising the stakes and promising that such attacks will continue, Rubio is looking to gain hard-liners the upper hand against appeasers like Grenell.”

US-led reactionary’s botched “drug boat” operation
Rubio’s personal career ambitions pushed a very willing Epstein-mired Trump into a botched operation. It was ostensibly against a Venezuelan boat carting drugs to the US, reported upon by a US Navy ship. The small boat was in international waters, close to Venezuela, and not even near the US. Yet, the Navy blew it up, killing all 11 passengers.

According to American journalist Glee Violette, Trump and Rubio revealed that Trump himself gave the order. “But Trump AND the captain of that Navy ship—had NO idea who was on that speedboat. They did not have TIME. They did not board the boat. They did not collect evidence. They did not even have an accurate head count. Not one of them has been identified. So how could they possibly know if they were gang members?”

She added: “The Navy officers aboard our ship may have SUSPECTED the boat was carrying drugs, but that is not a violent crime like piracy or kidnapping that warrants immediate intervention.”

Violette reminds us that:

While transporting drugs may be a crime IN Venezuela or IN the USA, is it a crime to have drugs on a boat in international waters? Come on. That is why there are cruise ships that run casinos in international waters. That is why there were cruise ships that traveled into international waters during Prohibition so passengers could drink. One final thing—the most IMPORTANT thing of all. Let’s be VERY clear that the crime of drug smuggling is NOT a capital crime. It does not call for the death penalty.

Likewise, the high-profile Caracas-based investigative team Misión Verdad released official statistics. For example, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) annual reports from 1999 to 2025—27 years—were examined. “For twenty-seven consecutive years, Venezuela has not been labeled as a country of relevance in terms of illicit drugs or narcotics.”

Venezuela is also accused of being a narco-state, with Maduro said to head the Cartel of the Suns and the Tren de Aragua gang. However, recent reports from both the United Nations and the European Union indicate that barely 5 percent of the drugs produced in Colombia or Peru transit through Venezuela, and that the country is virtually free of drug cultivation and processing.

Bay of Piglets 2.0
According to the Venezuelan government, on September 12, a Venezuelan vessel crewed by nine tuna fishermen, sailing 48 nautical miles in waters belonging to the Venezuelan Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), “was illegally and hostilely attacked by a United States Navy destroyer, the USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109), equipped with powerful cruise missiles and highly trained marines.” The fact is unequivocally documented.

There was no basis for this intervention. The US destroyer’s sailors eventually left the vessel after occupying it for eight hours. If there were any drugs onboard, the Americans would have been only too gleeful to present the evidence publicly and regain some credibility after the botched killing of 11 people, which few believe was based on drug trafficking. Furthermore, a short video clip of the tuna fishermen’s vessel and the approaching destroyer shows that American Venezuela policy has nothing to do with drugs. Washington’s only aim is to intimidate the Venezuelan government, armed forces, and population by demonstrating the undeniable might of the US Navy in this tuna boat case, and the firepower of other branches of the US armed forces in the “drug boat” operation.

Psychological warfare, or PSYOP, aims in this case to demoralize the Venezuelan armed forces and population, hoping that a defection or split in the armed forces would create an opportunity for regime change to oust President Maduro. PSYOP is an official branch of US foreign policy.

The US does not appear to learn from its past. In May 2020, Venezuelan fishermen off the Venezuelan coastal town of Chuao helped capture and detain eight US-backed mercenaries who planned to enter Venezuela to carry out assassinations and overthrow President Maduro.

Images of the mercenaries, most of whom were Americans, face down on the ground with hands tied behind their backs, guarded by Venezuelan militia and fishermen in front of their headquarters, Casa de los Pescadores, remain striking. Is the idea of US “mercenaries” far-fetched? Watch the confession of a captured US Marine. Viewers can also see fishing villagers explain in their own words, with English subtitles, how the US operation unfolded.

The May 2020 US-sponsored coastal incursion made the 1961 failed US invasion of Cuba through the Bay of Pigs “look like D-Day,” quipped one commentator.

The issue is not US-Venezuela “tensions” but aggression against Venezuela
On September 15, 2025, according to the Canadian state media CBC, Trump announced that the US military had

carried out another strike against a Venezuelan drug cartel vessel that had been on its way to the United States, the second such strike in recent weeks… He said three men were killed in the strike and no U.S. personnel were injured, adding that it occurred in international waters… Trump provided no evidence for his assertion that the boat was carrying drugs—though he told reporters that U.S. authorities had obtained evidence. ‘We have proof, all you have to do is look at the cargo that was … spattered all over the ocean,’ Trump said in the Oval Office Monday afternoon, when asked about the steps authorities took to obtain proof of their allegations.

“Spattered all over the ocean”—yet Washington swears it has proof! What the US had previously presented through Washington and the mainstream media as mere “tensions” between the two countries, with this third strike, even the CBC has had to acknowledge the contradictions inherent in the US narrative.

Progressive forces around the world cannot remain idle, silent, or “neutral.” Venezuela shows us that the moment demands we rise to the occasion.

The US waiting for Gadot: Venezuela armed forces
Despite numerous attempts over the decades, the US has been unable to incite defections or demoralization in any branch of the Venezuelan armed forces: air, sea, or ground. In a 2003 article, Marta Harnecker (1937–2019), a Chilean journalist, author, psychologist, sociologist, and Marxist intellectual, noted that the Venezuelan military possessed seven defining features that distinguished it from the armed forces of countries such as Chile, Argentina, and Brazil:

First, Venezuelan officers and soldiers were profoundly influenced by the ideas and thinking of Simón Bolívar on national and people’s sovereignty. Second, soldiers in Chávez’s day were trained at the Venezuelan Military Academy, not the School of the Americas. Third, the historical conditions were different. Guerrilla insurgency was not a big problem, so indoctrination in the Cold War anti-communist ideology was much less necessary. In fact, when Chávez’s generation entered the academy in 1970, guerrilla activity had already been rooted out. Fourth, the Venezuelan military was not controlled by an elite military caste. Fifth, in 1989, the popular uprising known as the “Caracazo” politicized many lower-ranking officers, making them sympathetic to left-leaning ideas and more hostile to the political elite. Sixth, the decade preceding the Caracazo, characterized by an abrupt rise in socioeconomic inequality, had already begun to radicalize lower-ranking officers. Finally, Chávez’s proposal to restructure the armed forces after his election in 1998 gave them a new purpose and a way to channel the frustrations built up in previous decades.

As in Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot, Trump and Rubio could exchange with each other endlessly, awaiting a response from Godot that never arrives.

US False Flag Against Venezuela: DEA Agent Caught With Cocaine in Drug Boat

Venezuela militia: “Desperately starved recruits forced into paid service?”
In addition to the regular armed forces, Venezuela maintains a militia of volunteer citizens, or “the people in arms.” Before the current US aggression against Venezuela, the militia numbered about 4.5 million women and men.

On August 29 and 30, 2025, in a call by President Maduro to enlist citizens in the militia, approximately 1,000 registration points were set up in Bolívar squares and other emblematic spaces across Venezuelan cities to sign up volunteers. The reports can be seen on social media or Venezuelan TV.

From my 2019 interviews with two random militia members in the streets of Caracas (with English subtitles), readers can judge the sincerity and determination of this woman and this man.

In addition to the initial 4.5 million militia members, another 4 million are being enlisted, bringing the total to more than 8 million. This figure has been reported even by some US media: “Maduro rallies 8 million Venezuelans to fight U.S.”

However, not everyone in the US seems to grasp the situation. During my recent appearance on the Mario Nawfal show on September 8, 2025, which garnered nearly 320,000 views, I debated two Venezuelans, based in the US, about the most recent militia enlistment drive, saying that it successfully recruited more members, bringing the total to over 8 million. The response from the two individuals was that Maduro achieved this because people were “starving and desperate for some money,” which the government is paying them.”

Aside from the fact that militia service is voluntary and unpaid, my own observations in Caracas confirm otherwise. A short 38-second TikTok clip shows the reality on the ground.

Furthermore, the Maduro government responds to Trump on a near-daily basis. For example, he recently honored women militia members and condemned Trump’s misogyny.

Opposition forces supporting Venezuelan sovereignty and the constitutional order
The availability of food, goods, and services constitutes an accomplishment despite crippling sanctions. According to American economists Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs, US sanctions “would fit the definition of collective punishment” and, in the case of Venezuela, resulted in more than 40,000 deaths during 2017–2018.

However, during the Nawfal show, when Venezuelans in the US who influence the Trump–Rubio Venezuela policy were confronted with the choice of supporting or opposing the sanctions, they argued that the measures have nothing to do with conditions in Venezuela. To give readers who may be “neutral” in the US–Maduro standoff some perspective, these Venezuelans also stated they favour more direct strikes on “drug boats,” as happened on September 2: “It is about time!” They likewise referenced the 2018 drone assassination attempt against Maduro. Their only comment was that it failed, and thus the US should try again: magnicide on social media.

However, a review of Venezuela-based social media shows that some opposition figures do not align with the US. For example, Luis Ratti, who describes himself as “independent opposition” and a former presidential candidate against Maduro, tweeted: “Let the world know: in Venezuela, there is a NATIONAL UNITY for the defense of sovereignty. I call on all opposition and independent political sectors and leaders to join the National Unity to defend the peace of Venezuelans and sovereignty. Let’s do it together for Venezuela!” (my translation).

“Election fraud”: red flag for US regime change
An integral part of the US reactionary narrative is that Maduro was not fairly elected. “There was fraud.” However, based on my work as an International Election Observer for both the July 2024 presidential elections and the more recent May 2025 regional elections for National Assembly deputies, state governors, and legislative councils, my conclusion is clear. Still not convinced? Watch the full 14-minute documentary on the elections titled Elections in Venezuela: An Original Observation. Readers are welcome to engage with me on social media on this controversial issue of elections. I stand to be corrected.

Furthermore, the two most voted opposition coalitions reportedly elected three deputies each, with former two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles entering the National Assembly. However, the opposition deputy aligns with the Maduro view on the “drug boat” incident. According to Reuters, the strike drew skepticism from some within the Venezuelan opposition. Capriles is quoted as saying: ‘How did they know there were 11 people? Did they count them? How did they know they were Venezuelan? Were their ID cards floating on the sea afterward?’”

I was in Caracas late in the night of July 28 and on 29, 2024, when violent riots broke out in many cities across the country against the election results. To counter my testimony that this lawlessness was organized and paid for by the US, as the taped testimonies of those involved indicate, US-based Venezuelans on the Mario Nawfal show argued that the riots after the July 28, 2024, presidential elections originated in “poor areas.” They are correct to an extent. Petare was one of the foci of these disturbances. That is why, on the day before the May 25, 2025, regional elections, I visited Petare, one of the poorest areas near Caracas and the largest favela (slum) in Latin America. The goal was to gauge how voting would proceed the next day.

What did I find? It was unanimous: people wanted peace regardless of the voting outcome. Public opinion there also seemed to lean toward the Chavistas, which would have repudiated past anti-Chávez sentiment. Chavista Elio Serrano swept the election for Governor of Miranda state, where Petare is located, with over 83 percent of the votes. Furthermore, the electoral system continues to evolve, as shown in the documentary cited above.

However, in Venezuela, democracy and political power are more than elections; they also consist of what happens between the polls. One example comes from fishermen capturing a video (with English subtitles) of a US destroyer in the background. Their reaction was: “They boarded us and gave us a hard time. We are fishermen, but we will keep fishing, we will keep moving forward” (my translation). Their TikTok has reached nearly 200,000 views. This demonstrates the political power of the revolution that US reactionary policy fails to recognize.

Can Maduro really be heading drug cartels?
In addition to unpacking the US false accusations against Venezuela, there is also the human factor. I wrote the following, having been in Caracas in February 2019:

This constituted an opportunity for me to briefly shake hands with Nicolás Maduro, to gaze into the former bus driver’s humble eyes fleetingly, and then listen to him address a small, intimate foreign delegation. In this unique setting, one’s political and personal appreciation skyrocketed to a new qualitative level… Analyzing the phony charges, not from the legal/judicial point of view, but rather from a moral/political optic, a person characterized by these false accusations would be completely individualist. However, the Nicolás Maduro I heard speak on February 4, 2019, from a very close vantage point, personified the very opposite of individualism. Ready to sacrifice his life? Yes, this is the impression he left. Only several months later, there was in fact a U.S.-inspired assassination attempt against him… History has catapulted Maduro into a unique position. He has become, so to speak, a “martyr” in his own lifetime, such is his heroic resistance to the U.S.-led alliance aiming to smash him and the Bolivarian Revolution.

Close to six years later, there is absolutely no reason to change my opinion. On the contrary, history has already vindicated Maduro. On September 15, with the third boat attack since September 2, Maduro still stands firm.

Furthermore, in January 2025, after the May 2024 presidential elections, I attended Maduro’s swearing-in ceremony as president in Caracas. What impressed me most was not necessarily the formal part held in a hall, but what followed—the literal public swearing-in. In the true spirit of Venezuela’s signature protagonist democracy, thousands gathered to raise their hands and pledge: “I swear.” And they meant it.

Reactionary politics versus revolution in Venezuela: its impact on Latin America and the world
It is most prudent to leave the evaluation of the Bolivarian Revolution and Maduro to the non-Venezuelan who knows him best, Franco-Spanish writer Ignacio Ramonet. The recent article, citing him, titled “Venezuela remains the great political laboratory of our time” succinctly indicates why the current struggle over Venezuela is of utmost significance for Latin America and the world:

Venezuela continues to be the great political laboratory of our time. There, they are attempting something that the global system cannot tolerate: combining participatory democracy, national sovereignty, and social redistribution under a socialist horizon. That is why the attacks continue: blockades, sanctions, economic suffocation, and campaigns to delegitimize the government. But it is also there that the most creative forms of popular resistance have been seen: communes, self-management, and the idea of power from below. In the history of Marxism, the Bolivarian experience represents an attempt at updating: not repeating dogmas, but grafting the emancipatory tradition onto Latin American realities, with Bolívar, with Chávez, with the indigenous peoples, and with the insurgent memory of the continent. It is an unfinished process, complete with tensions, but it is also proof that Marxism is not dead: it mutates, it reincarnates, it seeks new syntheses.

AA/OT

Arnold August

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Arnold August is a Canadian journalist and lecturer, the author of Democracy in Cuba and the 1997–98 Elections, Cuba and Its Neighbours: Democracy in Motion and Cuba–U.S. Relations: Obama and Beyond. As a journalist, he collaborates with many websites in Latin America, Europe, North America and the Middle East. He is a contributor to Orinoco Tribune. His website: www.arnoldaugust.com

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