The Path to Success in Governing Venezuela

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN, 12 Jan 2026

Sakai Tanaka – TRANSCEND Media Service

8 January, 2026 — Five days have passed since the Trump administration’s US military raided Venezuela on 3 January 2026, abducted President Maduro and his wife (arrested and extradited on drug trafficking charges), and declared that “the United States will govern Venezuela until it begins to stabilize and develop.” In accordance with constitutional provisions for a presidential absence, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was elevated to interim president on 5 January. The Constitution of Venezuela stipulates that an election be held within 30 days to elect a permanent President who will replace the interim President. However, now that as Trump is the “de facto ruler.”  He has stated that he will not hold an election within 30 days.

In the last autumn, the Trump administration pressured the European Nobel Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuela’s pro-American right-wing opposition leader, Machado. It would not be surprising if Trump were to plot to hold a presidential election in 30 days, have Machado win (through fraud), and replace him with the leftist Rodriguez. However, he will not do so. He has also said, “Machado is unpopular and cannot take power.” Forcing Machado to receive the Nobel Prize appears to have been a “Trump ploy” to irritate the liberal elites who control Europe, including the Nobel Committee, while also acting as a diversion. Trump will not give the appearance of carrying out the ploy favored by the traditional US Republican elites (center-right, Anglo-American alongside liberals) to remove the anti-American left and replace them with a right-wing US puppet government under the guise of “democratization.”  He became the US President in order to destroy the Anglo-American system of the American hegemony, which was run by elites from the two major parties, Republican and Democrat.

Trump seems to have praised Rodríguez, who was in charge of the economic policy and doing a fairly good job, and has decided to let her continue for a while (about two years?). Trump’s 18-month plan for governing Venezuela emphasizes the stability, the maintenance of the public order, and the economic development of that country (while introducing American companies to profit). It does not include the “democratization” that the traditional Anglo-Americans emphasized. At a glance, Trump appears belligerent on the surface.  However,  in reality, he is a realist (economic exploitation through contracts is possible). He has also said that “the United States is not at war with Venezuela,” and will not attempt to overthrow the Venezuelan government by military force, as in the Iraq War.

Left-wing and authoritative analysts predict that “Trump will pressure Rodriguez, seize Venezuela’s oil and other interests, and then force him to resign,” but (again) they will likely be wrong. Trump will work with Rodriguez and the US oil industry to rebuild Venezuela as an oil-producing nation. The US government will provide financial support to the US oil industry as it expands into Venezuela. American companies will make money, but at the same time, Venezuela’s bankrupt economy will gradually improve, and people’s poverty will be alleviated.

Trump has decided to allow Venezuela to export 50 million barrels of high-quality crude oil from its stockpiles to the United States. Some people are saying, “See? Trump is really just trying to seize Venezuela’s oil interests!” From my perspective, these people are (intentionally) only seeing half the story. The proceeds from the crude oil Venezuela exports to the United States will be used to rebuild the Venezuelan economy, which Rodriguez is working on. Venezuela, subject to economic sanctions by the United States and Europe, has not been able to openly export oil until now. The majority of Venezuela’s oil had purchased by China, one of the non-American countries, unfettered by sanctions. It was highly likely that China, which had been buying up Venezuela’s oil, which was unable to sell to the US or Europe, was forcing it to sell at low prices.

Some people say that Trump would threaten Venezuela and buy it at a low price! Is that really true? Trump wants to successfully rebuild the economy of Venezuela, which is now a US puppet, made by Trump. If he does so, other Latin American countries, such as Colombia and Mexico, which currently criticize Trump for their anti-Americanism, will begin to think that being friendly with Trump might actually be beneficial. and Trump’s Americanism and the creation of a Latin American puppet will be successful. The Chinese are essentially unscrupulous business people, so they will buy at a brutally lowest possible price.  However, Trump has another primary goal: “Success of Americanism [in Latin America]”, so he will buy at a reasonable price.

 

By joining the US under Trump, Venezuela is no longer subject to economic sanctions. Trump is pressuring Venezuela to stop exporting oil to China. Some people say that this is a violation of the principles of free trade! It certainly is. However, with the end of the Anglo-American hegemony (globalization) (the shift toward multipolar hegemony), the monolithic global free trade system is also coming to an end.  With the multipolarization of the world order, the pretense of all nations being equal and possessing national sovereignty is also disappearing. Latin America (as well as Canada and Greenland) has fallen under the umbrella of the United States, one of the poles. That is why Trump trampled on Venezuela’s national sovereignty, kidnapped Maduro, turned Venezuela into a US puppet, and reduced economic ties with other poles like China.  Are puppets “evil”? Not really. Both Japan and Europe have been puppets of the United States and Britain since the end of the WWII, but they’ve had a good time. The very concept of good and evil is a fabrication created by the hegemonic powers.

People out there in general are unaware of the global shift and are making a fuss about Trump trampling on a free trade system and national sovereignty that no longer exists.  This is because the American media don’t report about the end of the Anglo-American hegemony and the shift toward multipolarity.  I hear voices saying, “We won’t accept the multipolarity of the world order even if it happens on its own!” Even if people don’t accept it, the world’s course won’t change. Hegemonic systems are not decided democratically (they’ve been decided by Jewish courts since ancient times).  One of such examples is that Japan’s Takaichi administration, encouraged by Trump, has begun to respond to the multipolarity of the world order (such as the Sino-Japanese conflict to ensure Japan becomes its own pole and not a subordinate of China, and preparations for nuclear weapons). The political power of those who refuse to tolerate such a thing is steadily declining.

Until now, the British hegemony has excelled at distorting the notion of good and evil, portraying itself as the good guys and its political opponents as the bad guys. As a result of the secret struggles since 9/11, the Likud faction holds the lead in the US intelligence community, which is responsible for running the hegemony. However, there are still the British-affiliated personnel, and they mock each other, making it impossible to tell who is who. That is why Trump intentionally plays the “bad guy,” and Israel continues to intentionally commit heinous crimes against humanity in Gaza and elsewhere. This prevents the British interests, who want to portray themselves as the good guys, from entering the picture. Trump and Israel have succeeded in portraying themselves as “evil” through their false evil strategies, driving the British interests out of the Intelligence Community. As the result, the British-backed forces, such as the US Democratic Party, the UK, and the EU’s Germany and France, have seen their intelligence capabilities significantly decline and are self-destructing through a series of incredibly foolish policies. Trump is also deliberately pursuing the Americanist strategies, such as the kidnapping of Maduro, in an imperialistic and evil manner. This is why people criticize him. However, in reality, the British hegemony of the past also engaged in the “Washington Consensus,” which drowning developing countries around the world, including those in Latin America, in debt and forcing them to privatize their exploitative interests in return for the debt.

Trump and Israel have also been criticized for being overly military-oriented. This is because the Intelligence Community, responsible for managing the hegemony, is part of the military. For the same reason, even during the period of British hegemony (even after the war), the world was constantly on the brink of war and civil war. If a dollar collapse (financial bubble burst) like a repeat of the Lehman Brothers crisis had caused the British hegemony to self-destruct along with the Intelligence Community, and the world order had become multipolar, there would have been a significant decrease in global wars (that was the scenario in the past). However, in reality, the Likud faction, which drove out the British, continues to dominate the Intelligence Community and is prolonging the dollar bubble by resuming quantitative easing.  Therefore, the Intelligence Community will remain, and humanity’s warlike nature will continue for some time to come.

Let’s return to the issues of Venezuela. Until now, Venezuela’s leftist government had cooperated with Cuba and Iran (and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah), and many Cuban and Hezbollah personnel had infiltrated the country’s military. Then Trump’s US military forces arrived and kidnapped Maduro, and his successor, Rodriguez, agreed to protect the Venezuelan state in exchange for becoming a US puppet. From now on, the Rodriguez administration will arrest or expel any remaining Cuban or Hezbollah personnel in the country at the behest of the US. Those within the Venezuelan military who do not want to become a US puppet will also be cracked down on. Because this was unacceptable, the Venezuelan military forces opposed to this trend rose up and attempted a coup d’état shortly after Rodriguez became the interim President, but it was suppressed. It appears that Venezuela has been prevented from descending into civil war.

On 8 January 2026, the US Coast Guard raided and seized the Russian-flagged tanker Marinella in international waters off the coast of Venezuela. A Russian submarine was nearby providing escort, bringing the situation to the brink of a potential nuclear war between the United States and Russia in the Atlantic. The Marinera, owned by a Turkish company affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, was transporting oil to Venezuela in cooperation with Iranian-affiliated Hezbollah to increase its military power and funding. The US authorities, which designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, have been tracking the ship as a target of sanctions since 2024.

Late last year, the Marinella was discovered by the US authorities as it approached Venezuela, evading the US attempts to seize it and escaping. Iran sought help from Russia, which criticized the US’s attack on Venezuela. In an attempt to rescue the fleeing Marinella, Russian authorities changed its flag from Guiana to Russian. They assumed that a Russian ship would not be seized. However, the US did not consider changing the flag to Russian and instead attacked and seized the Marinella. The Russian government has criticized the US government for seizing the ship, but has not taken any military action.

Russia and China have condemned Trump’s invasion of Venezuela as a violation of national sovereignty, but these are empty words and no military action has been taken. Both Russia and China benefit from a multipolar world. That’s why, while Russia and China only verbally criticize Trump, who is making the world more multipolar by manifesting his Americanism through actions such as the invasion of Venezuela and causing the self-destruction of Britain and Europe through the war in Ukraine, they secretly support him. Iran, cornered after being induced to overthrow the regime by the US and Israel, is now clinging to Russia. Before his abduction, Maduro also clung to Russia and China. These two countries have provided Iran and Maduro with some kind of assistance.  At the same time, however, they have unofficially recognized that the US will become the hegemonic power in Latin America. Meanwhile, Israel will become the hegemonic power in the Middle East. Russia and China will not interfere with Trump’s control of Venezuela, nor will they prevent Israel (and its puppet Trump) from weakening Iran’s power.

In contrast to Russia and China’s cooperation in the promotion of the multipolarization of the world order, the Anglo-European EU opposes such multipolarization, which would result in the loss of the Anglo-European hegemony. The EU does not recognize the legitimacy of Venezuela’s new government, a fruit of Trump’s multipolarization (Americanism).

As the manifestation of his Americanism, Trump is attempting to strip or purchase Greenland from Denmark, an EU member state, which is also a source of conflict between Europe and the US.  If Europe clashes too much with Trump over the Greenland issue, Trump will retaliate by refusing to cooperate with NATO and Ukraine, weakening Europe’s military power and forcing it to surrender to Russia. Therefore, Europe will have no choice but to concede to Trump and hand over Greenland.   Europe was too late in recognizing the trend toward the multipolarity of the world order.  Or rather, it seems they still have not fully realized it.  It is what they brought upon themselves.

——————————————————————————————————-

Notes:

 

  1. The hyperlinks with the parentheses ( ) at the end of some paragraphs were added by the original author. Those hyperlinks in the paragraphs and those with brackets [ ], with the italic letters at the end of some paragraphs were added by the translator for the convenience of the reader.
  2. The views and/or opinions in those hyperlinks added by the translator do not necessarily reflect those of his. In addition, it is either impossible or unavailable for the translator to verify the genuineness of the information in those links. He does not take any responsibility for the contents in those relevant links at all.
  3. Some sentences in the article, deemed important and/or emphasized in terms of the context, are expressed in the Gothic letters and/or the Italic letters, by the translator for the convenience of the reader.
  4. The views and/or opinions expressed in the above-mentioned article are those of Sakai Tanaka, who is the original author. His views and/or opinions do not necessarily reflect those of TMS or those of the translator. Therefore, the reader is kindly requested to understand, interpret or judge those views and/or opinions at his or her own responsibility.
  5. The original article in Japanese was published more than a few days or a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, the situations and/or conditions mentioned in the article might have been changed. This also means that the author’s argument expressed and/or the information provided in the article might have become inadequate or less or least adequate, obsolete, out of date or no longer valid by the time the TMS reader reads the same article in English.

——————————————————————————————————-

Original author: After graduating from university, Sakai Tanaka started working at the Kyodo News Agency in 1986. From 1997 he joined Microsoft Network (MSN) and in 1999, due to change of policy at Microsoft, he became an independent journalist. Tanaka has published more than twenty books on international affairs, some translated and published in China, South Korea and Taiwan. He studied at Harvard University from 2000 to 2001 and in 2005 was invited to serve as a senior researcher at the Royal Faisal Institute in Saudi Arabia. Website: tanakanews.com

——————————————————————————————————-

 Translation:  Satoshi Ashikaga — Google Translate

——————————————————————————————————-

Original in Japanese:  ベネズエラ支配 成功への道


Tags: ,

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 12 Jan 2026.

Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: The Path to Success in Governing Venezuela, is included. Thank you.

If you enjoyed this article, please donate to TMS to join the growing list of TMS Supporters.

Share this article:

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.

There are no comments so far.

Join the discussion!

We welcome debate and dissent, but personal — ad hominem — attacks (on authors, other users or any individual), abuse and defamatory language will not be tolerated. Nor will we tolerate attempts to deliberately disrupt discussions. We aim to maintain an inviting space to focus on intelligent interactions and debates.

− 5 = 5

Note: we try to save your comment in your browser when there are technical problems. Still, for long comments we recommend that you copy them somewhere else as a backup before you submit them.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Read more

Click here to go to the current weekly digest or pick another article:

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: