Much is said about Trump’s domestic Bonapartist regime; however, less attention is paid to the international authoritarian tactics he is utilizing as the bully pulpit. There has been pushback to Trump’s proclamations of Manifest Destiny, both in the Americas (with Canada, Mexico, and Panama as the targets) and abroad, but it is strictly rhetorical. Yet very little has been done — or even said — about the United States’s current actions in the Caribbean, specifically Venezuela. With 20 air strikes leading to the extrajudicial murder of at least 79 people and the increasing naval presence — including the USS Gerald Ford, the largest aircraft carrier — in the Caribbean, American imperialism is returning to a more overt form. With this escalation, there is growing concern about how the U.S. will advance and how other nations will respond. Although Canada-U.S. relations are tumultuous, with threats and tariffs abound, Canada has historically shown a willingness to assist the U.S. in their imperial aims. In 2025, Venezuela might be another campaign to shore up relationships between the two colonial powers. As socialists, we must be resolute: Canada should not intervene.
Iraq 2025? Yes and no
It has been argued that Trump is a fascist; this might be true. Yet, this concedes that his actions are outside of presidential norms. Daniel Bessner argues that Trump is not a fascist; rather, they are in line with the American anti-democratic political apparatus. This is apparent with his current Venezuela campaign and its similarities to George W. Bush’s Iraq strategy — most notably by designating Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, with Marco Rubio, Trump’s Secretary of State, going so far as to say they are worse than Al Qaeda. Of course, there was never a tangible link to Iraq and Al Qaeda, much in the same way there is no evidence that the Maduro government directs Tren de Aragua; however, reality is not necessary when imperial expansion is on the agenda. With this comparison in mind, it is not surprising to note that Venezuela’s vast oil reserve is probably playing a major role in Trump’s preoccupation. Despite this, Republican Senators are giving him the green light to continue with his military operation.
If Venezuela is a 2025 facsimile of 2003, there are some key differences from the original. It is simple to compare the two Republican presidents; however, Barack Obama also laid the foundation for Trump’s strategy. Obama issued an executive order on March 9, 2015, listing Venezuela as a national security threat. What is the institution in peril? Liberal democracy. Marco Rubio is utilizing the same language to rebut the few arguments the Trump administration faces against these military strikes.
It can be argued that democracy was also one of the stated aims of the Iraq war, with the invasion being named “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. This framing has gained support from Venezuela’s opposition leader, and recent Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Maria Corina Machado. In her best Trump impersonation, Corina Machado revealed what she would do following the ouster of Maduro: focus on democratizing oil so that investors will funnel in, while also confirming her support for Trump’s military strikes. For anyone who was paying attention, this is not surprising. In the November 2024 Venezuelan Presidential Elections, Machado ran on the mass privatization of the Venezuelan economy. She remains a figure in the same vein as Donald Trump and Javier Milei, President of Argentina, who is currently driving his own country’s economy to a dead end and simultaneously killing the hopes of Libertarian utopian thinkers everywhere with his anarcho-capitalist privatization. Like her predecessors, Henry Kissinger and Barack Obama, Corina Machado joins a list of undeserving Nobel Peace Prize winners who view military strikes against civilians — the same ones she dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize to — as a conduit to peace. Unfortunately, this is the exact tactic that will help shelter Trump’s actions.
Carney and the Caribbean
In their book, Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy, Owen Schalk and Yves Engler outline the ways that Canada, under Trudeau’s tutelage, has been a willing purveyor of regime change in Venezuela, most notably in their leading role with the Lima group campaign to install former opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, as the leader of Venezuela as early as 2017. Carney remains somewhat of an enigma as a political entity, but his past behaviour as the Bank of England governor is an indicator of future action. On two separate occasions, in 2018 and 2019, Maduro reached out to the Bank of England for $1 billion from the Bank’s reserve for economic relief. Carney refused this request. Carney demonstrated a willingness to line up behind his allies and allow the Venezuelan people to suffer because Maduro refuses to genuflect to power and allow Venezuela’s resources to power the imperial machine. It is clear from Carney’s silence following the September 2, 2025, American military strike that killed 11 people that his sentiment toward Venezuela has not shifted in the last decade. Additionally, a spokesperson for Canada’s Department of National Defence confirmed that the attacks would not affect Canada and U.S. military operations.
An indicator of Carney’s — and thus Canada’s — future involvement in Venezuela can be gleaned from his first federal budget as prime minister. A key feature of Carney’s budget is $81.8 billion in military spending over five years, including a Buy Canadian Procurement Plan. To combat the deficit (approximately $78 billion) from this injection of funds into the military, the budget projects $57 billion in cuts to jobs and public services. With a deemphasis on public services, military infrastructure development, like military equipment development, will be a key focus for economic growth, which is currently projected at a measly 1%. Be it overt or not, a military operation in Venezuela would provide an opportunity to flaunt this growing military — a hammer in search of a nail — and it has the added benefit of demonstrating support for “free-market democracy” by attacking an ideological opponent. Additionally, the fall of the Maduro government would allow Canadian capitalists to recover oil assets that were lost when ExxonMobil and Petro Canada left the country in 2007 and protect mining investments throughout South America that are challenged by Venezuela’s efforts, both under Chávez and Maduro, to nationalize gold mining. Undoubtedly, military action carries a potential benefit for capitalists; the same cannot be said, however, for the people of Canada.
Canadian material analysis
Canadians should oppose any military action against Venezuela. The military strikes that have taken place thus far are war crimes and should be fought against. Military intervention will not positively affect the lives of Venezuelans or Canadians. Despite what has been said by neoconservatives like Corina Machado and Marco Rubio, opposition to the Maduro government amongst the Venezuelan people is fractured, at best. This could be due to repression from the Maduro government, or it could be that the actions of Venezuela’s government do not negatively affect the citizenry, despite the lamentation from the mainstream media. Whatever the case, healthy skepticism about the virtue of military action against the “evil” regime is warranted. It is worthwhile to remember Michael Parenti’s lesson from Blackshirt and Reds: “During the Cold War, the anticommunist ideological framework could transform any data about existing communist societies into hostile evidence.” In essence, a socialist government is “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”.
This is not to say that socialists should not criticize the Maduro government; there is plenty to critique. The fact is that the result of an election has never been a determining factor in whether the Global North will interfere. Regime change harvested by external forces bears poisoned fruit. Change should come from the Venezuelan people themselves. If Canadians want to support the Venezuelan people, we should ensure that our government does not prevent them from growing their movement. This can be seen with the organizing done by the international Palestinian movement. The tactics used in the Palestinian movement within Canada are to ensure the government does not use our taxes to support the genocide perpetrated by supporting Israel with aid. In the Venezuelan case, however, Canada is not aiding in the oppression of the Venezuelan people by supporting the government. The strategy then is inverted, and we must ensure that our tax dollars are not used to interfere in the coming days. As Canadians, we should vehemently oppose any military action in the Caribbean. We must decry the false flags that are waved against the people of Venezuela.
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