Trump’s lies about Venezuela
By RN Bhaskar and Sakeena Bari Sayyed
Image source: Market Watch
January 3, 2026, was a red-letter day – for Venezuela, the US, the world and international law. All of them will now face consequences that will go much beyond Venezuela.
And the source for all of them will be Trump’s lies, hubris and disdain. The manner in which Trump appears to be inviting a war makes people suspect that he is trying to become a war president (like Roosevelt) and thus get a third term as well. Trump has thus become a danger to the entire world order.
Sadly, mainstream media has been circumspect about many of the aberrations. Ursula Von der Leyen, president of the EU (a non-elected post) had only one remark – we are studying the situation! So did India – sadly so. Even elected representatives like the German chancellor, the French President and UK’s Prime Minister who constantly preach morality and international obligation were curiously silent.
Is it possible that Google and Copilot also decided to join the chorus of silence? They did not provide any answers for questions on Venezuela even though there were screaming headlines in Reuters and Al Jazeera. The questions asked were (1) How many barrels of crude were on the tankers that were seized off the coast of Venezuela; and (2) How many people died in the US assault in Caracas while trying to kidnap the Venezuelan president. Perplexity and DeepSeek were more reliable in their replies. It was evidently a time for awkward silences, fear, embarrassment and anger.
John Mearsheimer, internationally acclaimed geopolitical analyst described the US as “a rogue state” (timeline 6:32 to 6:58 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tVtQ7t1B8U). In the same video, Jeffrey Sachs, another internationally acclaimed expert is quoted as stating (at timeline 6:07 to 6:23) that Trump was guilty of “international thuggery” not backed by international law.
These views echo the words of Harold Pinter, made in 2005 — on his deathbed while accepting the Nobel Award — that “The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law” — https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2005/pinter/lecture/. Even then, mainstream media did not give this speech adequate coverage. Sadly, President Bush was not declared a war criminal then. In retrospect, that has helped embolden Trump, and he is out to commit even more war crimes – both directly and in collusion with Israel. He has disregarded all laws and norms, disdainful of human lives, not just in other countries but within the US as well.
True, almost every president of the US has interfered with governments they did not like. They have indulged in regime change too. But while past presidents took care to build a case – no matter how deceptive or devious – Trump made no attempt to disguise his ambition and arrogance. Even so, he did keep some aspects secret — his private profiteering in addition to his covetousness for oil and other riches. A good example is a twitter post (now known as X) which suggested a trillion-dollar bailout for JP Morgan (https://x.com/DefiWimar/status/2007929692779946264?s=20).
Whether this is true or not, the list of Trump’s lies keeps growing.
Trump’s lies
Here is the sampling:
- ‘Not a single life lost’. Fact: At least 80-100 lives were lost. Some could be American but there is no confirmation as yet. Trump clarifies this later, but the lie remains more memorable (timeline 0.32 to 0.40 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpNw9psYfoc).
- ‘Venezuela stole oil’. Actually, Venezuela nationalized its oil because some companies like Exxon refused to pay a decent royalty. This was the same situation in Iran in the ‘50s when British firms refused to part with a decent royalty to Iran. Iran then nationalised its oilfields. That led to the UK and the CIA joining hands to finance a coup to overthrow the government and install Mohammed Pahlavi Raza (Shah), as the head of Iran. He was later toppled by the Islamic revolution (https://asiaconverge.com/2015/11/housing-lessons-from-iran/).
Exxon sued Venezuela, the matter went to court and the international court ordered (significantly lowered) damages to Exxon. Matter closed, there was obviously no theft involved.
Chevron, another US company continues to operate in Venezuela. But Exxon is closer to Trump because it is said to be financing AIPAC, the organization that lobbies for Israel’s interest in the US.
- ‘Venezuela was a drug trafficker’. Wrong. The biggest peddlers of drugs are Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. In fact, the person whom Trump wanted to appoint as president is known to be a convicted drug dealer.
- ‘Rubio to be Viceroy’. Trump did not reckon with Venezuela courts stepping in and appointing the vice president Delcy Rodriguez to take charge as president (https://www.deccanchronicle.com/venezuela-high-court-orders-vp-to-temporarily-assume-presidency). Thus Trump’s plans for a regime change have been thwarted — at least for now.
- ‘It was a law-enforcement operation, not a war’. A brazen lie. Why were the war ships stationed near the coast of Venezuela? Why were 12,000 troops kept on standby? Why were several buildings bombed? Why were 80-100 people killed? The US has now invented a new definition for law enforcement which allows it to stage 29 incidents (now 30) of shooting down boats in international waters, and authorise the extra judicial killing of over a 100 people in those boats. Thus, the US did violate laws. It did not enforce them. There was a total disregard for human lives. As for ‘law-enforcement’, do listen to Scott Ritter, former UN arms inspector, when he says (timeline 6:43 to 6:49 at https://www.youtube.com/live/8O49reYeJRw) that the US has stopped behaving as a constitutional republic. Its acts against oil tankers were nothing short of plain piracy.
(Also study the timeline to a crisis. The more readable PDF version can be downloaded from Countdown to a crisis)
Causes for war
While Trump has been eloquently loud about oil and drug trafficking being the primary causes for this war, there could be other unstated reasons as well.
- The US wants to send a clear message to other Latin American countries — not to defy US directives and to keep China out of this region . But is that possible? As Miguel Tinker Salas (non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute) points out — from timeline 28:42 to 29:30 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tVtQ7t1B8U — the US cannot dislodge China from Latin America because of existing trade ties with Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia. The US does not have the money for investing in these countries. Moreover, almost all Latin American countries are dependent on China for their economic survival and well-being.
- The attempted toppling of the Venezuelan government is to become a blueprint for a similar exercise in Iran. It is still not clear which military personnel in Venezuela were bought off by the CIA to ensure that not a single anti-aircraft gun was fired at the helicopters surveying the scene below. The helicopters are being viewed as a give-away to Israel’s practices in Gaza. Will the CIA and MI6 play a similar game of buying off Iran’s defence staff and/or fomenting a rebellion? This worked quite well in Syria. It almost worked in Venezuela. This was attempted in the drone killing of Iran’s generals in June 2025 (Mearsheimer and Ritter, among other experts, believe that the CIA was behind the drone attack on Putin’s residence). Iran is perceived to be the biggest threat to Israel and is disliked intensely by the US. Hence the need to create a template for decapitating Iran.
- Another reason for the attack on Venezuela could have been the way it has managed to revive its economy during the last four years despite US sanctions. Venezuela successfully roped in Iran to repair and revive its oil infrastructure (abandoned by Exxon). It brought in Russia for military hardware. China became its primary customer for oil (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rkLMS7GSek). The trade was to be designated in Yuan which in turn would pay for rebuilding infrastructure. The US didn’t like this for two reasons: First, none of the three countries whom Venezuela partnered are favoured by America. Second, Venezuela had found a way to ensure that US sanctions did not bite. The payment in Yuan could have been another factor which annoyed the US, because it would have further weakened the US dollar.
- The US desires to control major oil supply sources for China. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves and could supply more oil to China. The US would love to control this supply and choke China when the need arises. This is what the US did with Japan before World War II.
- Maybe, the US wants to control the huge mineral wealth of Venezuela (gold, silver, rare earths besides oil). Or, maybe, the US had an unhealthy voracious appetite for more territorial acquisitions. It wanted Canada as it 51st It wants Greenland, Cuba and Columbia. Right now it now wants Venezuela.
The war could have been the result of any or many of the above reasons. Effectively, Trump has become the most dangerous President the US has had. He is dangerous for the US, for the neighbourhood and even for the world.
Implications
The first implication of the way the Venezuelan attack took place is a total breakdown of international law. The way key Venezuelan military personnel could have been bribed to allow the US to enter Caracas is a same way the Syrians were bribed and possibly the way ground assets were created by the CIA in Iran and in Russia. This has been eloquently explained by Scott Ritter in his video at https://www.youtube.com/live/8O49reYeJRw . By bribing key people and then toppling any government the US does not like is an indication that international laws do not matter anymore. The US has pushed the world back to ‘might is right’.
The second implication is the increasing irrelevance of the EU. Trump has already stated that he will use the military if required to ensure his control over Greenland. Having stayed quiet over the blatant invasion of Venezuela it will be difficult for the EU to protest against the annexation of Greenland. Denmark is reduced to begging the US to leave Greenland alone instead of indignantly approaching the United Nations for enforcement of international law.
The third implication is that this annexation permits every country to grab coveted territories. By keeping silent, the EU does not have a leg to stand on. It now cannot protest against the annexation of Ukraine and Greenland. Similarly, the precedent set by the US permits China to annex any territory that it wants because neither Japan nor India has protested against the Venezuelan annexation. Effectively, all these countries have created a situation that can harm them grievously in the future.
Trump is determined to wreck the world order. By trying to bully Venezuela into submission, he is trying to send a message to all the countries in Latin America. The message is imperious, senseless and short-sighted. It is that all countries will have to abide by the dictats of the US. Thus, Venezuela has been told to use the profits from its oil business for purchasing US goods only (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-07/trump-says-venezuela-to-purchase-us-goods-with-oil-deal-revenue). It’s a nasty way of telling Venezuela that its profits will be diverted to USA. No more paying for Russian defence items, Iranian technology for the oil industry or China’s infrastructure. It means Venezuela will have to surrender its sovereignty. It remains to be seen if Venezuela (and other Latin American countries) will comply.
The world could be on the brink of a third World War. Russia has already warned the US of dire consequences because US naval vessels intercepted two Russian tankers on 8th January 2026. China too is watching carefully and is likely to react in case its investments in Latin America are affected.
The most direct warning came from Kim Jong Un of North Korea. His ability and willingness to fire the first missile is a serious possibility. He would obviously be tacitly supported by both Russia and China.
Conclusion
Trump’s attack on Venezuela is an act of thuggery and confirms that US has become a ‘rogue state’. India’s silence on this conflict will hurt it in two ways: Firstly, it weakens its position as an upholder of values. Second, it allows for any annexation of its own territories in the future.
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Do view my latest podcast on India’s myopia in spurning trade ties with Turkey. You can find it at https://youtu.be/s9Tq9YTfUwY
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And do watch our weekly “News Behind the News” podcasts, streamed ‘live’ every Saturday morning, at 8:15 am IST. The latest can be found at https://www.youtube.com/live/NhePwni9f0U?si=ON85tHHUZExc-Is-
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