U.S. Invasion Of Venezuela May Set The Process Of Trump’s Down Turn In November Mid Term

By Nitya Chakraborty

The invasion of Venezuela by the United States on the early hours of January 3 along with the kidnapping of President Nicholas Maduro and his wife marks a new phase in Donald Trump’s foreign policy which has been termed by The Guardian columnist as “naked imperialism”. The announcement by Trump that the U.S. would now oversee the administration of the Latin American nation and take care of its oil installations reveal candidly how the business and imperial interests merged in the U.S. President’s implementation of Donroe doctrine, an updated version of the earlier Monroe Doctrine.

But the latest reports from both the U.S. and Caracas are not indicating that Trump is having a smooth sailing in his operations. The vice President under President Maduro Delcy Rodriguez who is now interim President, is under seize by the US. Initially she came out with a strong statement declaring Maduro as her President, but the latest on Monday was that she issued an appeal to the US seeking collaboration on the basis of an agenda within the framework of international law. She however still stuck to the sovereignty of Venezuela against US invasion. Now coming days will show whether Rodriguez will succumb to the U.S. pressure or she will stick to her independent position.

Apart from this, the US expected chaos and uprising by the anti-Maduro supporters in Caracas after the invasion, but that has not taken place. Even the army and other defence forces have been supporting the government as of now. The Venezuelans are shocked but they are not welcoming the American invasion. Another aspect is that the opposition leader Machado who got the Nobel Peace prize last year is not being backed by Trump in the new situation since the President started disliking her after she was given the Noble Prize depriving him. Trump is looking for someone from Maduro government as a replacement, but so far, he has found none.

In the last three days since invasion, the US cities including New York and Washington are witnessing huge protests against America’s military intervention in Venezuela in the manner another President George Bush intervened in Iraq in the early part of this century on the basis of fake allegations against the then President of Iraq. The same scenario has been repeated in the beginning of 2026 by Trump who only last month announced the new US national security strategy giving powers to the American agencies to work for regime change in the Latin American nations.

The United Nations Security Council is meeting on January 5. The meeting may not produce any result as U.S. will use its veto power to oppose any resolution condemning its invasion. But at least the other nations including France and Britain will be expressing their worries and anxiety at the dangerous direction of the unilateralism of Trump. The EU nations cannot strongly oppose the US action but they are extremely worried as in Europe Trump may target Greenland for acquisition. Already Trump aides have announced that Denmark has no right to retain Greenland which belongs to the US .Denmark Prime Minister has come out strongly against this move of Trump aides. Denmark is a member of EU but any occupation of Greenland will be a slap in the face of European Union proving to the world that the EU nations are a bunch of toothless powers with no capacity to confront their big brother.

In New York, the most important development is strong protest by the new socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani who called Trump and told him this was an act of war. The New York police administration is under Mamdani. President Maduro will be put to trial in a New York court and big demonstrations by the opposition parties and peace groups are expected in New York during trial. It will be of political interest how Mamdani tackles the situation when his friends of anti war movement take to the streets in New York during trial.

For Latin America, the Venezuela invasion by US has polarized the region. In 2025, there was a right wing swing in Latin America during elections. All the countries with right wing governments are happy at the invasion. These countries include Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia and even the President elect of Chile who is a trump acolyte. Brazil, Mexico, Nicaragua along with a few other small nations have still left wing regimes. They are under tremendous pressure. They are talking of having joint front to deal with the new situation. The Left president of Columbia Gustavo Petro condemned the invasion but Trump hit back at him saying Columbia is ruled by a sick man and he is producing and selling cocaine. He will not last long. He even threatened to attack Columbia. So he is acting like a Rambo as far as Latin America is concerned.

If Trump fails in his objective of capturing Venezuela and takeover of its oil industry, that will be a major setback for him in his political career in 2026. In 2025, he was dominating the global politics in his own manner. Trump was everywhere. But from the beginning of 2026, this action on Venezuela may not achieve the desired results. If the confrontation prolongs, it will have impact on Trump’s MAGA base whose programme is that US should not be involved in any war. So far the US has not sent land troops. The Venezuela operation has been done with air force strength. Many Republican Congressmen are bitter that Trump did not seek any approval from the Congress. The top leaders of GoP were not even apprised.

As far as Democrats are concerned, the entire Democratic Party is now united in opposing Trump on this action. The Democratic Socialists led by Bernie Sanders, Mamdani, Pramila Jaipaul, Saikat Chakraborty, are in the campaign to expose Trump. There has been massive response to their call in the last three days. Already in the recent by elections, Democrats have fared well at the cost of sitting Republicans. The Democrats have now got momentum. They will continue it till November 2026 midterm. If the Democrats succeed and get majority in both the Congress and Senate, that will be a big boost for them for the 2028 Presidential elections.

The midterm results will not have any impact on Trump Presidency. He will remain till his term expires in 2028, but it will have adverse effect on his standing as a leader and acceptability. That might restrain Trump to some extent. At the other end, Trump, knowing that this is his last term, might use the next two years after midterm to act more unilaterally without caring for any international norm. That will be a more dangerous period for geopolitics at global level Next few months will show how the situation develops in Latin America. (IPA Service)

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