A War in Venezuela?

[Note by web-poster Jean B: This article was published before the Jan. 3, 2026, U.S. attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of President Maduro; now over 100 people in small boats in the Caribbean have been killed; the attack on Venezuela killed an estimated 90 people; several oil tankers have been seized; and 2 kidnapped Venezuelans are in a U.S. prison.]

by John M Repp

Is the Trump administration preparing for a war against Venezuela, or are they just threatening them in order to get something?  The Trump Administration’s repeated strikes in the Caribbean, near the Venezuelan coast, have shocked the world. They claim they are destroying boats running drugs, but the usual treatment for such a crime is to stop the boat and arrest the culprits and confiscate the drugs and take them to trial. The missile strikes against boats in the Caribbean, shown to the whole world, are clear violations of international law. So far more than 90 people have been killed in such attacks.

70% of the people in this country oppose military intervention against Venezuela. Would Trump bypass a Congressional declaration of war, after giving so many campaign speeches about how he is a man of peace?

15,000 US troops have already been mobilized to surround Venezuela. The navy’s largest aircraft carrier is part of the buildup.

It is now more than 22 years after the US went to war in Iraq based on lies. If the $8 trillion  spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars had been spent on things like decarbonizing our electric grid or erasing all student debt ($4.5 plus $1.7 trillion), we would have transformed American society beyond all our imaginations. Why can’t we finally learn the lessons of Vietnam and Iraq. In each case, the hawks invented pretexts and promised quick victories. They were wrong. But the notion that the U.S. can carry out military invasions into the heart of Latin America without a massive blowback is outlandish.

We are at a critical moment. Members of Congress from both parties are speaking up about the illegality of these strikes. But the situation requires much more urgency — once the escalation ladder is climbed, there may be no going back.

Stop the war before it starts!