3 Feb 2026
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2026/02/trump-pirate-of-the-caribbean/

I have now been here a week and I think that I have absorbed enough to attempt a
little analysis, as opposed to the simple impressions I gave shortly after
arrival.

Those impressions remain valid however: this is not a repressive state. I was on
the Randy Credico show live on WBAI New York on Friday, and by chance my friend,
the renowned FBI whistleblower Colleen Rowley was also on, from Minnesota (where
I have stayed with Colleen and her husband in their home).

I was explaining that, in a week of going all round Caracas, I had yet to see a
checkpoint, that nobody had at any stage asked me who I am, what I was doing or
prevented me from going anywhere, and that the shops, bars and restaurants are
all functioning normally.

Colleen reported from Minneapolis that there were checkpoints everywhere, that
the streets are full of heavily armed men, that people are frequently stopped,
questioned, asked to produce documents, and diverted, and that many shops bars
and restaurants are closed because the staff are afraid to venture out into the
streets. Colleen is heavily involved in detainee support and in getting supplies
to people sheltering in their homes.

Remind me again, which of us is in a supposed dictatorship?

...

Sanctions against Venezuela did not start after the disputed 2024 election; they
have been applied by the Western powers more or less since the very start of
Chavez' socialist experiment. The repression of socialism in Latin America has
been US policy for a century, and the more Chavez succeeded the more the west
sought to suppress it. France refused to provide spares for the Mirage jets of
the Venezuelan air force, and equally refused to supply spare parts for the
trains of the Metro service.

The gold and foreign currency reserves abroad of the government of Venezuela
have simply been stolen by foreign governments, and the blocking of Venezuela
from the Swift bank transfer system for a while caused havoc. It has however
spurred BRICS to develop an alternative, not fully adopted, not finished but
working in Venezuela, which accounts for the full stocks in the shops and
ultimately might represent a significant moment in international economics.

Slowly, unwillingly, the Socialist Party under Maduro has been forced precisely
by the crippling effect of sanctions to allow more space for the private sector
and move from a fully socialist to a more social democratic model - though to
describe the reforms under Maduro as "neoliberal" is ridiculous. It may
theoretically be possible to build socialism in one country, but if the major
economic powers join forces to destroy you, it becomes very difficult indeed.

A dangerously simplistic narrative about what has happened in Venezuela has
taken hold in the West, fuelled by Trump, CIA and Machado/Miami sources.

On this reading, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez is in collusion with Trump,
betrayed Maduro and stood down defences on the night of his kidnap, and is now
instituting neoliberal policies, including a new petroleum law which states only
the USA may ship Venezuelan oil and that payments for it will go exclusively
through the US in Qatar.

In fact this is not true at all. Venezuela's new petroleum legislation contains
no provisions banning oil exports to China or Russia and no provision for
payments to be routed through the USA. The new Petroleum law is in fact
legislation which sets out a new commercial basis for the operation of the
Venezuelan petroleum sector on the same kind of concession, licensing and
royalty basis as pertains in almost every other oil producer.

The key point is that the legislation was drafted under Maduro, with extensive
consultation and debate. It came for its first reading to the Assembly literally
the day after Maduro was kidnapped. That was already scheduled, not a result of
the kidnapping. The notion that Maduro opposed the legislation and Rodríguez had
to get rid of him to get it thorough is patent nonsense.

...

The line that Delcy Rodríguez agrees to both the kidnap of Nicolas Maduro and
his wife Cilia, and to the hijacking of Venezuelan oil sales and revenues, has
been deliberately spread by the US and its acolytes, despite Delcy Rodríguez's
furious denials.

If Rodríguez really was Trump's placed woman, then boasting about it would
fatally undermine her within Venezuela and bring about her downfall - which
obviously would be entirely counterproductive were there any truth in the claim.

So why is this rumour being spread? Well the obvious reason is precisely to
undermine Rodríguez and destabilise the government of Venezuela.

But perhaps a more important factor is Trump's obsessive need to claim
victory. He gathered a massive military force off the coast of Venezuela, and
stood in danger of mockery as the Grand Old Duke of York if he simply sailed it
away again.

The seizure of Maduro has in fact changed nothing in policy terms within
Venezuela, but it has provided a spectacular operation for Trump to claim as a
victory. In truth, as a demonstration of the capabilities of the United States'
offensive military technology, it was indeed technically impressive.

Ctd ...