America, Jan 05: The military operation to kidnap and detain Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has once again opened up America’s long and controversial history in Latin America.
Maduro was captured by US special forces and taken out of the country and is currently being held in a New York prison. US President Donald Trump has said the operation will put Venezuela under American control.
The announcement came after commandos arrested Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores during airstrikes on targets in and around the capital Caracas.
The actions have brought new attention to long-standing accusations against the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his successor Maduro. Washington has backed coup attempts against their governments.
From direct military intervention to support for dictators, Washington’s actions across the region have repeatedly raised questions about imperialist encroachment and the resulting political instability.
On June 27, 1954, Guatemalan President Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was ousted from power by mercenaries trained and financed by Washington. This followed a land reform that threatened the interests of the powerful US company United Fruit Corporation (later Chiquita Brands).
In 2003, the United States officially acknowledged the role of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the coup, in the name of fighting communism.