00:00President Nicolas Maduro says the U.S. government is fabricating a new eternal war against this
00:07country. But the Trump administration argues they are targeting the narco-socialist Maduro
00:14regime. But my big question, and I think the question that many people are wondering right
00:20now, is what is the motivating factors for the U.S.? What's really behind this? Is it
00:27regime change, or is there a lot more to the story? Yes, I think, well, it's primarily about
00:34regime change. And I think there is a broader historical strategy there, which is about
00:40reasserting U.S. power in what it considers to be its backyard, the Western Hemisphere.
00:44But in the short term, it's regime change in Venezuela for sure. This is actually not a
00:48new policy. It's been a longstanding policy of both Democrats and Republicans, particularly
00:54the first Trump administration, was very keen on regime change in Venezuela. You may recall the
01:00whole parallel presidency of Juan Guaido, which ended in 2023. It was pretty much a fiasco, but
01:07that was a strategy of the first Trump administration. There was also this U.S.-supported coup in 2019,
01:13which failed, and then a 2020 mercenary invasion, which also failed. So regime change has been an
01:18ongoing policy. But this is the first time that now military intervention is being brandished as a
01:26new way of doing regime change. It's a big escalation, right? It's not just covert operations
01:30and supporting insiders or military figures that might lead a rebellion. This is like threatening
01:37airstrikes, and we don't even know, maybe even boots on the ground. So I think it's really upping the
01:44stakes. I think it's particularly led by what are considered to be the hard lines in the Trump
01:49administration on Latin America, the hawks, if you like, Secretary of State Marco Rubio being the
01:54leader of them, who has been behind regime change in Venezuela for a number of years, has failed so far.
02:00The Venezuelan military has been remarkably loyal. And so the next step up is, well, you know,
02:05military intervention. Narcotics, I think, most across the political spectrum, really, most analysts agree
02:11that narcotics has little or nothing to do with the story, because most of the narcotics actually
02:15don't come from Venezuela, but come from elsewhere.
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