The true cost of invading Venezuela

As a Mexican-American who oversees an immigrant-led civil rights organization in rural Colorado, I see every day the impact of foreign policy in our communities. Much of our work is done for those who are here because of instability that the United States has helped exacerbate.

So I will state this plainly from a position of experience: A unilateral U.S. invasion and occupation of Venezuela is reckless, illegal under international law and guaranteed to intensify human suffering and forced displacement. The long-term consequence of what happened last weekend will be more forced migration, more immigration to the U.S. and fewer resources to support working families here in our country.

Although we are thousands of miles from the rooms where powerful people decide they can invade another country and call it “help,” our communities live with the consequences of those decisions every day. They are a large part of the reason my organization exists.

History tells us where this goes. When the U.S. uses force to “fix” another nation, especially in Latin America, it rarely brings stability. It brings chaos, collapse and the one outcome politicians always pretend not to see coming: people fleeing for their lives.

The U.S. has a long record of meddling across Latin America and the Caribbean through coups, invasions, occupations, covert operations and political interference. Guatemala, Chile, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Mexico — the list is long. In Guatemala, the U.S. backed the removal of its elected president in 1954. What followed was not freedom, but decades of violence and mass displacement. 

Intervention looks clean in Washington. It looks like exile, grief and broken families on the ground.

Many Latinos now living in the U.S. are the consequences of those conflicts. The repercussions are the reason why we’re here. But the fallout has less to do with “what” is happening in Latin America than “how” we do these things.

Despite the “Donroe Doctrine” rhetoric coming from the White House, a U.S. president cannot simply invade another country and “run it” like a takeover. That’s a violation of international law, if not an outright act of war, no different than Russia invading Ukraine. And Americans need to stop pretending we are not responsible when this is being done in our name.

Let’s be clear: Opposing an invasion does not mean supporting Nicolás Maduro. That argument is a trap meant to silence people. Maduro is responsible for his own actions. His government has oppressed Venezuelans and violated basic human rights. He should be held accountable. But that accountability should come from Venezuelans themselves and through legitimate international legal mechanisms, including international courts — not through a U.S. invasion driven by political motives.

The U.S. is not a neutral actor. For years it has used pressure and interference that too often served domestic politics more than Venezuelan well-being. We should be honest about that record because it explains what many Venezuelans and Latin Americans already believe: This is not about democracy. It is about power — and democracy will suffer as a result.

If the Trump administration were serious about doing what Venezuelans want, it would allow Venezuelans to choose their next leaders. Instead, news organizations report that after Maduro’s removal, his vice president and oil minister, Delcy Rodríguez, was sworn in as interim president. That is not a democratic transition led by the Venezuelan people. It is a power arrangement. And it raises a basic question: Who exactly is this for?

The motives are not hidden. Trump has publicly framed the U.S. presence in Venezuela around rebuilding the oil sector, bringing in American companies and maintaining U.S. control for up to 18 months. Energy firms have already begun positioning themselves for Venezuelan crude flows. When the planning starts with oil and control, it is not a humanitarian mission. It is a takeover with a different name.

The hypocrisy is impossible to miss. The Trump administration claims its Venezuela operation is about drug crimes. Yet, Trump recently pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted in a U.S. court of major drug trafficking and sentenced to 45 years in prison. So the drug-war justification rings hollow, sounding more like political cover.

If Trump truly wanted to help Venezuelans, he had an obvious chance to do so by protecting Venezuelans who are already here. Instead, his administration has moved to terminate Temporary Protected Status protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and push people toward deportation, some to El Salvador’s abusive CECOT mega-prison.

Do not tell us this is about helping Venezuelans when policies are built on fear, punishment and political theater.

There’s another truth Americans need to face: These wars and endless occupations cost billions, and every dollar burned on invasions is a dollar not invested in working families here at home. Americans are being crushed by affordability. Wages are not keeping up with the cost of food. Rent hikes are pushing families into financial crisis and health insurance is becoming unaffordable. While families are told to tighten their belts, this administration is prepared to pour billions into bombs and another unsanctioned occupation. 

That is not “America First.” It is empire first and working families last.

Americans should not accept wars carried out in our name and paid for with our tax dollars. We should demand an end to occupation, a return to diplomacy, and the protection of Venezuelan families already here. And we must remember this moment the next time politicians try to blame immigrants for crises their own policies helped create.

Alex Sánchez is the founder and CEO of Voces Unidas de las Montañas and Voces Unidas Action Fund, immigrant-created advocacy organizations based in Colorado’s Western Slope.