{"id":311377,"date":"2026-01-05T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=311377"},"modified":"2026-01-05T07:46:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T07:46:36","slug":"kidnapping-democracy-sovereignty-is-optional-ask-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/01\/kidnapping-democracy-sovereignty-is-optional-ask-venezuela\/","title":{"rendered":"Kidnapping Democracy: Sovereignty Is Optional\u2014Ask Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regime Change Rebranded as Due Process<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

4 Jan 2025\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0The announcement by Donald Trump that Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife have been \u201ccaptured\u201d is being sold as a triumph of justice. In reality, it looks far more like a geopolitical smash-and-grab\u2014one that treats sovereignty as a minor inconvenience and international law as optional fine print.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s call it what it is: not a legal operation, not a heroic rescue of democracy, but a power move with a press release. A strongman\u2019s magic trick\u2014now you see a president, now you don\u2019t<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A Nobel Prize as Political Air Freshener<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the power vacuum, it wouldn\u2019t shock anyone if Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, freshly crowned Nobel Peace Prize laureate of 2025, were swiftly installed at the helm. The prize, presented as a moral halo, risks becoming a diplomatic deodorant\u2014masking the smell of an operation widely viewed outside Western capitals as illegal, if not outright criminal.<\/p>\n

Machado\u2019s open alignment with Washington and Tel Aviv, and her political proximity to Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump, make the choreography painfully transparent. The Nobel, in this script, doesn\u2019t crown peace; it licenses intervention.<\/p>\n

Applause in the West, Alarm in the World<\/strong><\/p>\n

In much of the so-called \u201ccollective West,\u201d champagne corks are popping. In large parts of the Global South, however, the reaction is colder\u2014and clearer. The reading there is not na\u00efve: what happened in Venezuela looks less like justice and more like a warning label.<\/p>\n

A warning to Iran, where protests\u2014real, legitimate, and rooted in popular frustration\u2014risk being instrumentalized into a regime-change operation. A warning to Russia, where proxy wars and assassination attempts are framed as \u201cdefensive measures.\u201d A warning to China, staring down the crises of Taiwan and Hong Kong while watching Venezuela burn.<\/p>\n

And yes, a warning to Africa\u2014especially the pan-African, sovereign-minded states of the Sahel. The message is simple: if we can do this there, we can do it anywhere.<\/em><\/p>\n

Who Can Do More, Can Do Less<\/strong><\/p>\n

Warships in the Gulf of Guinea don\u2019t float there by accident. Oil, gas, uranium, gold, cobalt, coffee, cocoa\u2014Africa\u2019s resource map reads like a shopping list. Trump\u2019s doctrine is brutally honest: submit to the dollar gods, or risk becoming the next \u201clegal case\u201d handled by U.S. forces abroad.<\/p>\n

The so-called peace deals\u2014like those surrounding Congo, brokered with European blessings and regional proxies\u2014often read less like peace and more like contracts of dispossession. Peace, apparently, is what happens after the resources are secured.<\/p>\n

Did Russia and China \u201cBetray\u201d Venezuela?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Short answer: no. Longer answer: sovereignty isn\u2019t a subscription service. Venezuela has no mutual defense pact with Russia or China. Multipolarity doesn\u2019t mean outsourcing your defense and waiting for Moscow or Beijing to fight your wars. It means building the capacity to defend yourself.<\/p>\n

Russia sold air-defense systems. China shared intelligence. That\u2019s the deal. When generals betray their own president, there is no army left to defend. This wasn\u2019t an invasion\u2014it was a delivery. An invitation, not an assault.<\/p>\n

Oil, Always Oil<\/strong><\/p>\n

The narrative war followed instantly. A military action was repackaged as a judicial procedure. Then came the press conference: the U.S. would temporarily<\/em> govern Venezuela, temporarily<\/em> rebuild oil infrastructure, temporarily<\/em> sell Venezuelan oil to the world.<\/p>\n

Temporary, of course, in the same way colonialism was once \u201ctemporary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sound familiar? \u201cWe will make Venezuela great again.\u201d Iran heard the same line after U.S. bombs fell in 2025. History has a cruel sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu.<\/p>\n

The Real Crime<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Washington ran Venezuela for decades, oil flowed north and poverty spread south. When Hugo Ch\u00e1vez reclaimed oil revenues, literacy rose, healthcare reached the poor, and millions ate three meals a day. That, more than anything, was the unforgivable sin: setting a bad example.<\/p>\n

And that is why this moment matters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is not just about Venezuela. It is a message broadcast loud and clear\u2014from Latin America to Africa, from the Middle East to Asia:
\nObey, or be removed. Resist, or be \u201carrested.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question is no longer who is next<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The question is whether the world will keep pretending this is law or finally call it what it is: colonialism, wearing a suit and speaking the language of justice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>____________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>Ra\u00efs Neza Boneza is the author of fiction as well as non-fiction, poetry books and articles. He was born in the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Former Za\u00efre). He is also an activist and peace practitioner. Ra\u00efs is a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Media Service<\/em><\/a> Editorial Committee and a convener of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/em><\/a> for Central and African Great Lakes. He uses his work to promote artistic expressions as a means to deal with conflicts and maintaining mental wellbeing, spiritual growth and healing. Ra\u00efs has travelled extensively in Africa and around the world as a lecturer, educator and consultant for various NGOs and institutions. His work is premised on art, healing, solidarity, peace, conflict transformation and human dignity issues and works also as freelance journalist. You can reach him at <\/em>rais.boneza@gmail.com<\/em><\/a> – <\/em>http:\/\/www.raisnezaboneza.no<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 substack.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regime Change Rebranded as Due Process<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":301237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-311377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311377"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":311384,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311377\/revisions\/311384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}