A Look At What A U.S. Military Invasion Of Venezuela Would Look LIke

The nationwide exercises include ground excursions, combat readiness, mobilization and weapons training. Photo: Bolivarian National Armed Forces

Frank O. Mora, Foreign Affairs: What Would a U.S. Intervention in Venezuela Look Like?

Risky, Expensive, and Counterproductive.

In August, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the United States was considering using military force to resolve the crisis in Venezuela. His announcement was quickly condemned by the United States’ allies in Latin America and the Caribbean as reckless and counterproductive. Yet there are some, mostly in the Venezuelan exile community, who still insist that a U.S. military intervention to remove the dictatorship of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would be worth the cost.

Not since the United States invaded Panama in 1989 had a U.S. president threatened to use force for political ends in the Americas, and for good reason. There are no longer any military challengers to the United States in the region. Today, the Pentagon focuses on helping Latin American governments dismantle drug trafficking networks, deal with insurgents, and respond to natural disasters. It does not plan military interventions in the region, although it certainly could, if ordered to do so.

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WNU Editor: Absent a situation of mass starvation and genocide .... the U.S. is not going to launch a military invasion of Venezuela. And while I do not think there would be a mass uprising against such an intervention .... the crisis of the past few years has simply broken the spirit among many in the country to offer any real resistance .... the military threats that existed in the past are simply no longer there to justify such a military undertaking. Bottom-line .... Venezuela in its current form is not a threat to anyone .... so why invade and assume the responsibility of taking care of a broken down country like Venezuela, where the costs alone of restructuring the country's debt and providing aid would run in the tens of billions of dollars .... and it would last for years. And as for the oil .... the shale business is far more secure and lucrative to pursue in Texas than investing the billions that are necessary to extract and process the dirty oil that exists in Venezuela.