“The United States appear to be destined by Providence to plague America with misery under the guise of liberty” – Simon Bolivar, Liberator of most of South America.These words, uttered in the early nineteenth century echoed thunderously in the early morning hours of December 3 as US bombs pulversed selected sites in and around Venezuela’s capital Caracas. Within hours, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores had been abducted, reportedly by US special forces. US Attorney General Pam Bondi declared Maduro will be charged in New York on “drugs and weapons charges” and will “face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts”. This comes weeks after Trump had pardoned the former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was sentenced to 45 years in a US prison in March 2024 of conspiring to import cocaine to the US, and of possessing machine guns.Maduro has been a special target of the US for some time now. Trump labelled him the head of the Cartel de los Soles (soles being the symbols of the sun worn on the lapels of Venezuelan generals), a military drug trafficking ring which Trump calls a security threat to the US. The problem is no other unbiased report has any information on this cartel. The UN drugs report of 2024 states that Venezuela is responsible for perhaps 5% of the drugs smuggled, that too mainly to Europe. It is not a cocaine growing, nor producing country like Colombia, Peru or Bolivia, but at worst an insignificant transit country in this trade. In July 2025 the US announced a $50m reward for Maduro’s capture, and has since refused any dialogue that Maduro offered.Venezuela has been a massive thorn in the US side for over two decades, since Maduro’s mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999 and hiked royalties on international oil companies, forcing many to surrender their concessions and quit Venezuela. Chavez was a very charismatic leader whose electoral victories in election after referendum could not be credibly challenged by the so-called international community (read the US and western Europe), and he built strong alliances with Russia and China.After Chavez died in 2013, Maduro took over but was a clumsy ruler, propped up by a political ecosystem that melded military forces with militias that Chavez had created and financed to ensure he could not be deposed easily by his own military. Attempts by the west however, to recognise opposition parliamentarian Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela came to naught. The presidential election of 2024 was widely reported as having been won by the opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, but was reportedly rigged and Gonzalez was forced into exile in Spain, where most Venezuelan opposition leaders await a chance to return to pursue their careers.In the meantime, sanctions and the drying up of oil revenues have led to hyper-inflation and mass migration by millions of Venezuelans to the US and other countries in the Americas. When Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corrina de Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in November, she credited Trump with her win. It was clear that the end game was regime change.The buildup began months earlier with the Trump administration dispatching a massive flotilla led by the largest US aircraft carrier to the Caribbean Sea. This was followed by precision strikes on boats allegedly carrying narcotics in the Caribbean and the Pacific Oceans. Over 30 strikes have been conducted till date, with over 100 casualties. The US has brazenly and defiantly declared these strikes were in legitimate self defence against drug traffickers, with no proof provided and in one case, a double strike on a boat whose survivors were trying to swim to safety.Weeks ago the US coast guard began arresting and boarding tankers leaving with oil from Venezuelan ports, claiming these were carrying sanctioned oil. The US Congress, supposedly empowered to authorise – or stop – such unilateral illegal actions, is reportedly still pondering what action it can take to show its voters it is not completely impotent!The regional political scenario is complicated. A wave of left-wing and moderate governments has been giving way to right wing regimes in recent elections in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, El Salvador, Honduras and other countries. The US has coerced countries like Panama into allowing almost free passage of US warships through the Panama Canal, alleging that two of the five ports along the waterway were run by Chinese companies, which was a threat to US national security!Trump threatened to cut off all aid and economic assistance to Honduras if the candidate he favoured did not win in the December election! US assertions of its intent to re-establish its hegemony over the western hemisphere are evidence of its arrogance, but also of confidence in its ability to stand off any other power that may come in the way of this mission.At the time of writing, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro (who will hand over power next year) has called for the UN Security Council to address the invasion of Venezuela. Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned the invasion and the capture of Maduro, saying it crossed “an unacceptable line”, calling for a ‘vigorous’ response from the UN Security Council. President Boric of Chile (a lame duck) has condemned the invasion, as has Russia. We will soon be able to see who is willing to stand up for the tattered rules based international order, but as the Americans say, don’t hold your breath.Deepak Bhojwani was Ambassador of India to Venezuela 2003-06 and also Ambassador to Colombia and Cuba later.