American intervention in Venezuela

Former American President Trump with Neoliberal Venezuela Coup Leader Juan Guaidó

The United States has opposed the socialist and anti-imperialist policies of the Venezuelan government by materially supporting multiple attempted military coups and counter-insurgencies mounted by the Venezuelan opposition as well as through brutal economic sanctions. American military personnel have also been caught directly interfering in the affairs of Venezuela.

Venezuela is the country with the world's largest oil reserves. American officials have often expressed concern over Venezuelan oil prices, often accusing Venezuela of holding world oil markets hostage and using oil money to support anti-American activity. The American government has admitted that the oil market has driven their policy toward Venezuela.

Coup attempts and military force

2002 Venezuelan coup attempt

Unrest broke out when Hugo Chávez appointed leftist union members to prominent positions within the PDVSA oil company. This coming with his plan to raise the price of Venezuelan oil on the international market. Chávez also had begun the distribution of oil revenues to the poor majority of the country. The CIA and the US State Department raised concerns about the policies of Chávez, citing his oil policy in particular. Venezuelan military generals would echo these statements about the oil trade.

The Confederacion de Trabajadores de Venezuela was on the payroll of the National Endowment for Democracy and is affiliated with the anti-Chávez party Democratic Action. This particular labor union spurred the unrest with a strike against Chávez's policy of appointing socialists to run nationalized business.

The strike led to a march calling for the resignation of the Chávez government. Leading opposition figures led the march towards the presidential palace in an attempt to force Chávez to resign. Wealthy opposition affiliated private media conglomerates called for demonstrations on television. The resulting conflict between the marchers and Chávez supporters leading to the Llaguno Overpass incident. Military generals refused to maintain the peace and instead demanded Chávez resign or face arrest. Chávez was placed under arrest when he refused to comply. He was later denied asylum in Cuba in an attempt to prosecute him in Venezuelan courts.

Secretary of commerce and member of Democratic Action, Pedro Carmona, was declared interim president until they could find somebody to replace Chávez. He immediately set about dissolving the supreme court and repealing the 1999 constitution. Carmona was immediately unpopular among the majority Chavista populace for repealing socialist reforms. The more traditionalist sectors of the Venezuelan opposition also opposed the more liberal Carmona. The new Carmona government had claimed Chávez had voluntarily resigned but once it became clear he had been placed under arrest unrest began to break out. Chávez supporters put the presidential palace under siege and seized corporate and state media by force and publicly demanded Chávez be returned to office. Carmona soon resigned and the loyal Presidential Guard retook the presidential palace.

2019 coup attempt

Demonstrations by the Venezuelan opposition accompanied US sanctions. Foreign media portrayed demonstrators as impoverished freedom fighters fighting the supposed “austerity policies” of Nicolas Maduro. In reality the protestors were members of the upper class (as opposed to the Chavista populace) supporting the US sanctions that the establishment media was calling socialist austerity. All of this culminating in the Venezuelan opposition leading a coup after accusing Chavistas of electoral fraud. The attempt to overthrow the government and gain the support of the majority of the military was a failure. Pro-coup military officials were placed under arrest by the military. Socialist militia members numbering in the millions squashed up uprising attempts and opposition military operations. The self-declared President of Venezuela and coup representative was Juan Guiado. He was the main man running against Nicolas Maduro, running on a platform of free market liberalism and alignment with United States democracy. In turn the USA recognized Guiado and the Venezuelan opposition as the sole legitimate government of Venezuela. Guiado and the opposition carried out various attacks on military targets with the financial and moral support of the United States.

Operation Gideon

Operation Gideon was a failed attempt at a direct intervention by the United States military personnel of Silvercorp and their Venezuelan allies. The plotters of Operation Gideon had planned for a combined three hundred strong force of exiled Guiado supporters formerly belonging to the Venezuelan military and American mercenaries. They had planned to gather this force and mount an amphibious invasion from Colombian waters. From the shores they would take key figures and positions and then reunite with the domestic opposition. The planners could only scrounge up sixty Venezuelan army defectors and two American former Green Berets when implementing the plan. All sixty members of the plot rode into Venezuela on two motorboats before being detained and questioned by Venezuelan fishermen. The fishermen then contacted the authorities and turned the sixty strong invading force in before they could act.

Sanctions

Venezuela has been sanctioned by the United States government since 2014. Sanctions being imposed on the Venezuelan state due to suppression of opposition marches and protests. These protests have persisted and so have the sanctions accompanying their suppression. Sanctions against Venezuela have targeted both the government and the civilian population. Shipments of basic needs headed towards Venezuela have been withheld by the United States. Economic pressure caused by the sanctions has only compounded the crisis.

Support for Venezuelan opposition

The United States has been one of the main forces driving the Venezuelan opposition, both through semi-covert methods and official diplomatic relations.