26 Apr 2026

Given that Trump's illegal stunt in Venezuela, bombing Caracas and other cities,
kidnapping President Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores and killing dozens in
the course of a single night has been followed by so many others: threats over
Greenland, lectures to Europe on its civilization and now the botched war on
Iran, on the one hand, there is hardly any mention of Venezuela in the press. On
the other hand, there is frequent reference to the 'Venezuela Model' of Trump's
imperialism. The assumption is that Trump successfully effected regime change,
installed a pliant government in the country, practically a viceroy taking
orders from the White House, has made Venezuelan oil and other minerals open to
investment by US oil majors who are now set to control Venezuelan oil and even
controls Venezuelan oil revenues. Venezuela is, in other words, done and dusted.

But, how much of this is true? With me to do all this are two of the most
knowledgeable and committed scholars and activists on Venezuela that I've ever
know, Maria Páez Victor and Francisco Dominguez!