America&rsquo;s action against Venezuelan President Nicol&aacute;s Maduro is being projected as a decisive blow against drug trafficking, narco-terrorism and authoritarianism. Yet, stripped of moral packaging and political rhetoric, the operation fits neatly into a familiar historical pattern&mdash;one that has already devastated Iraq and Libya. Venezuela is not an isolated case; it is the third chapter in a long-running doctrine of weakening oil-rich states under the banner of global order.
The stated justification may differ&mdash;weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, civilian protection in Libya, drug cartels and democracy in Venezuela&mdash;but the outcomes follow an almost identical trajectory: state collapse, economic ruin, humanitarian catastrophe and geopolitical vacuum.
<h3 data-start="1426" data-end="1473">Oil, Sanctions and a Slow Strangulation</h3>
Venezuela sits atop the largest proven oil reserves in the world&mdash;around 17% of global supply. In the 1970s, it produced 3.5 million barrels per day, accounting for over 7% of global output. Today, production hovers at barely one million barrels per day, reduced to levels comparable with a single American state.
This collapse did not occur in a vacuum. Sanctions, financial isolation and asset freezes systematically choked Venezuela&rsquo;s ability to invest, trade and maintain its oil infrastructure. While internal mismanagement, over-reliance on oil revenues and reckless monetary policy undeniably weakened the state, external economic warfare transformed crisis into collapse.
By cutting off Venezuela from global financial systems and petroleum markets, Washington did not merely target a government&mdash;it punished an entire population, accelerating hyperinflation, food shortages and mass migration. A nation that once exported prosperity became a case study in economic asphyxiation.
<h3 data-start="2492" data-end="2536">Minerals: The Quiet Prize Beyond Oil</h3>
Oil is only part of Venezuela&rsquo;s strategic value. Beneath its soil lies a vast and largely untapped mineral wealth&mdash;gold, iron ore, bauxite, nickel and coal. A five-year mining expansion plan announced in the late 2010s signalled Caracas&rsquo;s intent to diversify beyond oil, alarming those who prefer resource flows aligned with Western interests.
Gold reserves running into hundreds of metric tonnes, iron ore estimates in the billions, and strategic minerals essential for future industries place Venezuela squarely on the global resource chessboard. Sanctions did not merely freeze current revenue; they pre-empted future economic autonomy.
<h3 data-start="3203" data-end="3244">D&eacute;j&agrave; Vu: Iraq and Libya Revisited</h3>
The parallels are unsettling.
Iraq, once a functioning state and regional counterweight, was dismantled through a direct invasion justified by false premises. Its institutions were erased overnight, unleashing sectarian violence and empowering external actors far more hostile to Western interests.
Libya, Africa&rsquo;s most prosperous oil producer, was shattered by a humanitarian intervention that mutated into regime change. Once the leader was eliminated, the architects vanished, leaving behind militias, civil war and a permanently fractured state.
In both cases, resource-rich nations were broken, not rebuilt. In both cases, humanitarian language masked geopolitical ambition. And in both cases, the aftermath proved worse than the regimes they replaced.
Venezuela&rsquo;s ordeal follows the same logic&mdash;only this time, the weapon was economic strangulation rather than shock-and-awe bombing.
<h3 data-start="4172" data-end="4208">The Dangerous Global Message</h3>
America&rsquo;s action against Venezuela sends a deeply destabilising message to the world: sovereignty is conditional, and resource-rich states that resist alignment can be punished, isolated or dismantled.
This precedent does not exist in a vacuum.
If sanctions, blockades and regime-change tactics are legitimate tools, what stops Russia from justifying further action in Eastern Europe, or China from claiming strategic necessity in Taiwan? When power replaces principle, international law becomes selective, and the strong define morality.
Washington may believe it is defending order, but it is normalising disorder.
<h3 data-start="4859" data-end="4898">Human Cost as Collateral Damage</h3>
The gravest indictment of American policy lies not in strategic failure, but in human suffering. Millions of Venezuelans fled their homes. Healthcare systems collapsed. Food insecurity became widespread. A once middle-income society was reduced to survival mode.
These outcomes were not unforeseen. They were predictable consequences of maximum pressure without maximum responsibility.
Regime change failed. Maduro remains. Yet ordinary citizens paid the price.
<h3 data-start="5377" data-end="5412">Strategic Failure, Repeated</h3>
From Baghdad to Tripoli to Caracas, the results are unmistakable:
<ul data-start="5481" data-end="5667">
<li data-start="5481" data-end="5544">
Regimes removed or targeted, but instability entrenched
</li>
<li data-start="5545" data-end="5597">
Rival powers expand influence amid the chaos
</li>
<li data-start="5598" data-end="5632">
Humanitarian crises deepen
</li>
<li data-start="5633" data-end="5667">
America&rsquo;s credibility erodes
</li>
</ul>
This is not strategic success. It is institutional amnesia.
The tragedy is not merely Venezuela&rsquo;s destruction, but Washington&rsquo;s refusal to learn. Each intervention claims to be unique, yet every outcome confirms the same truth: you cannot bomb, sanction or starve a nation into democracy.
<h3 data-start="5968" data-end="6000">A World Watching Closely</h3>
The world is watching Venezuela&mdash;not as an exception, but as a template. Smaller nations are learning that resource wealth invites intervention, not protection. Larger powers are learning that force works when norms are flexible.
In this sense, Venezuela is not the end of a policy&mdash;it is a warning of what comes next.

Oil-rich nations cracked by power politics

From Iraq to Libya to Venezuela, America repeats a dangerous playbook of destabilisation

Washington’s Oil Wars, Venezuela Is Next

From Iraq to Libya to Venezuela, America repeats a dangerous playbook of destabilisation

January 5, 2026 | 23:00 IST