Recently, Venezuela has found itself at the center of headlines. Between allegations of stolen elections, brutal repressions of democratic opposition, extreme economic failure and millions of Venezuelans fleeing abroad, it is easy to see that embattled President Nicolás Maduro is under increasingly high pressure.
It seems that the United States may soon try to depose Maduro and establish a Democratic, pro-Western government in Venezuela. However, while Maduro isn’t a just or good leader, direct American military intervention would be a grave mistake.
Such action would only serve to counter the hard-fought efforts of the Venezuelan opposition, who have so bravely fought back against the denial of their democratic rights. We must both condemn the Maduro regime’s disrespect for the democratic process and simultaneously not allow its brutality to justify America’s involvement in yet another regime-change war.
Debates about Venezuela cannot exclude the fact that Maduro is a brutal dictator whose reign mimics those of other infamous despots. In Venezuela’s controversial 2024 election, Maduro’s regime first banned opposing candidates and then arrested opposition figures. Once the election was finally held, the government manipulated poll closing times, moving polling stations without warning.
Despite these efforts, analysis from the Associated Press found that opponent Edmundo González still defeated Maduro in a landslide. Disregarding González’s popular support, Maduro’s government still claimed he had won a narrow victory over González.
When Venezuelans dared to protest the obviously stolen election, Maduro cracked down on dissenters with horrific brutality. In a 161-page report, the United Nations detailed the crimes against humanity committed by the Maduro regime. Along with several shootings, the regime was implicated in the disappearances of thousands of Venezuelans, primarily targeted against younger, working-class Venezuelans who were beaten, sexually assaulted and left with grievous wounds. Among those kidnapped by the government were 158 minors.
In the aftermath of the 2024 election, Venezuela’s communist party called on the government to recognize the people’s desire for change, stating that Maduro had repressed Venezuelans’ democratic rights.
Frustratingly, many American leftists still praise Maduro as an anti-imperialist leader under attack by foreign forces. Leading up to the 2024 election, a letter from left-wing groups such as CODEPINK: Women for Peace and the Democratic Socialists of America International Committee condemned not Maduro’s brutality, but the Venezuelan opposition for daring to resist Maduro’s blatant fraud, characterizing the popular opposition to Maduro as the “extreme right wing and western media’s efforts to undermine Venezuela’s elections.”
These claims could not be further from the truth. Maduro’s decisions have been opposed by left-wing groups, especially in terms of economic mismanagement. Notably, a recent article in The New York Times revealed that, in an effort to alleviate pressure from the United States, the Venezuelan government offered to essentially hand over Venezuela’s natural resources to American business interests, while severing ties with Russian, Chinese and Iranian firms. Under this deal, the United States would receive preferential treatment in Venezuelan oil exports, along with opening up all existing and future gold and oil extraction projects to contracts with American companies.
Ultimately, this deal fell through. However, the fact that Maduro offered such a reversal demonstrates that, despite his rhetoric of opposing American imperialism, the dictator is willing to sell his country to the highest bidder so he can ensure a reign of terror, which explains the distrust he receives from many left-wing organizations within his own country.
The newest confrontation between Venezuela and the United States began not with any official diplomatic communication, but with a series of social media posts. In these posts, President Trump claimed that the United States had struck Venezuelan “drug boats” bringing narcotics into the United States, providing footage of the attacks. Despite his claims, Trump has provided no evidence that the boats were carrying drugs, but that has not prevented an American military buildup near the South American nation.
While the international community has a moral imperative to oppose the Maduro regime, this does not mean that any good would come from an American invasion of Venezuela. While Maduro isn’t popular, he still has millions of supporters within the country, many of whom are prepared to fight and die for him. In fact, Maduro holds control over an estimated 4.5 million Venezuelan militiamen.
Even if Venezuela’s conventional military falters, the United States could find itself bogged down in a long insurgency against even just a few thousand of these irregular fighters. The potential conflict brings to mind the operation from around 20 years ago in Iraq, in which the United States attempted a similar maneuver against dictator Saddam Hussein to replace him with a democratic government. Despite quickly defeating Iraq’s conventional forces and toppling Hussein, the United States soon found itself bogged down in an insurgency that saw thousands of Americans and Iraqis killed.
Concerningly, the United States has already deployed thousands of soldiers, along with aircraft and warships, to the Caribbean near Venezuela. This buildup, combined with the Trump administration’s rhetoric, has convinced many that the United States may be preparing an attempt to topple Maduro through military force.
If anything, an invasion would only serve to delegitimize the Venezuelan opposition, which would be likely to replace Maduro if he were overthrown. Should Venezuela be forced by the United States at gunpoint to move to a democratic system, it would only bolster the regime’s supporters, who would no doubt cite any invasion as an example of the American imperialism that Maduro claimed to be combating.
While the ongoing human rights abuses in Venezuela are horrific, the United States should avoid taking such a direct role in the conflict and instead allow the Maduro regime’s failures to continue and give way to a democratic uprising.
James Heins is a junior majoring in political science.
Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the Staff Editorial.