🇻🇪Bleeding: Venezuela’s Collapse and America’s Reckoning

Why drugs, oil, and hemispheric security converged at this moment

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Until you face the barrel of a gun and live to tell the story, it is impossible to fully comprehend the decisions following the trauma of a direct assault. The Venezuelan exodus is one of the largest humanitarian crises of the modern era, second only to Syria in scale. Today, roughly one-third of the population has fled—driven by the collapse of personal safety, unlivable economic conditions, and brutal punishment for dissent.

The celebrations of those living abroad are not triumphalism; they are the outward expression of unspeakable loss. Families were shattered. Grandparents aged and died without their children or grandchildren beside them. Fortunes were confiscated. Lands, farms, factories, and businesses were expropriated by the socialist regime. Of my graduating class, only six of thirty classmates remain in Venezuela. The rest are scattered across the United States, Chile, Australia, Portugal, Spain, Canada—even Lebanon.

Venezuela was once a nation that welcomed immigrants with open arms: impoverished war torn Europeans, Arabs fleeing authoritarian regimes, Colombians escaping guerrilla violence, and families like mine seeking opportunity. We became first-generation Venezuelans and formed a strong middle class—the backbone of society. Ironically, we were also the first to leave when conditions began to deteriorate. We had the means, and our roots were not yet deep enough to trap us.

Later came those fleeing for their lives—victims of kidnappings, armed break-ins, and carjackings at gunpoint—or those punished for dissent. What followed was an irreversible brain drain: PhDs, engineers, doctors, dentists, lawyers, and the professional class seeking to rebuild lives wherever and however possible.

The Venezuelans who have recently made headlines—besmirching the reputation of the many—are not representative of the nation’s diaspora. They are the dregs of society that Maduro deliberately exported under the Biden regime: murderers, thieves, rapists, and the mentally unstable—the very bottom of the barrel.

In broad terms, what remains inside Venezuela today is painful to acknowledge. There are the elderly, who lacked the means or opportunity to rebuild their lives elsewhere; the corrupt, who learned how to integrate themselves into the narco-regime; and a marginalized population now steeped in socialist indoctrination—el pueblo. The critical middle class—the engine of any functioning nation—has been systematically hollowed out. What remains is a stark divide between those in power and those rendered powerless.

While many can support a decisive strike against the narco-regime, the prospect of prolonged U.S. involvement until Venezuela stabilizes raises legitimate concerns. Yet Trump is correct on one essential point: if stabilization does not occur, others will simply replace the captured capo.

Many Americans, myself included, recoil at the phrase “nation building,” given its dismal track record. Venezuela may be the rare exception. It is resource-rich—not only in oil but in minerals—and capable of attracting the investment required to rebuild, albeit at a price. Striking the head of the human–arms–drug cartel provides the legal justification. The return on investment provides the incentive. But IMHO the true objective is hemispheric security.

Drugs made the strike legal.
Oil makes it worthwhile.
Hemispheric security is the goal.

Securing Venezuela’s oil reserves is not merely an energy play; it represents a strategic reset under the 2025 National Security Strategy. For decades, Venezuela’s 303 billion barrels were squandered by socialist mismanagement and globalist neglect, while China, Russia, and Iran exploited the vacuum. The United States cannot enjoy peace and prosperity while its neighbors harbor hornets nests such as Hezbollah and Hamas, terrorist networks, and criminal enclaves.

Equally critical is control over financial markets and global wealth flows. Rebuilding PDVSA’s shattered pipelines and refineries would allow U.S. energy firms to bring heavy crude back to Gulf Coast refineries uniquely equipped to process it, correcting years of policy that enabled Maduro’s narco-state while China absorbed discounted oil. It would seem this administration is locking down resources that fuel adversaries while rebuilding U.S. energy dominance, notably without loosing a single soldier.

Speaking of life, why was Maduro captured alive? Strategically, most objectives could have been achieved either way. But one possibility deserves serious attention: election subversion. Venezuela has long been central to electronic voting manipulation across multiple countries. Figures, institutions, and technologies tied to this ecosystem —Smartmatic among them— trace back to the Chávez and Maduro regimes. Perhaps Maduro is not merely a prisoner, but a witness?

Universidad Simon Bolivar > Electronic Engineer > Roger Piñate > Smartmatic > Sequoia > Lord Moloch Brown

Arguably, it would have been easier if Maduro had been killed in action. Yet he now sits in New York, not Caracas—a detail that should not be ignored. Might he sing for a lighter sentence? I’ll be on the lookout for the disclosures on this near and dear critical security topic. If elections cannot be secured, the United States is no better than a banana republic. Venezuelans learned that lesson the hard way had it not been for Trump’s 2024 win, America was dangerously close to becoming Venezuela … on steroids.

Among the popular and representative systems of government I do not approve of the federal system: it is too perfect; and it requires virtues and political talents much superior to our own.

Simón Bolívar - Liberator of the Americas

Intriguingly, Trump voiced recognition of Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, as Venezuela’s next leader. Why has he not acknowledged Maria Corina Machado or Edmundo Gonzalez? Look out for my analysis in the next issue:

In case you missed the antecedent to this article:

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God our Creator,
We lift up broken families, the displaced, the elderly left behind, and the millions who were forced to flee simply to survive. Bring justice where lawlessness has ruled, truth where lies have deceived, and restoration where generations have been stripped of dignity and hope. Protect the innocent, comfort the grieving, and heal the deep scars left by fear and oppression.

Lord, grant wisdom to those who now hold power and restraint to those who wield force. Expose hidden schemes, dismantle corrupt systems, and raise leaders who fear You and serve the people rather than themselves. May peace be secured through righteousness, and may liberty be restored—not by domination, but by truth, accountability, and Your guiding hand.

In Jesus’ holy name, Amen.