The Logic of Regime Change

Whatever one thinks of our means or motives, the removal of Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela is an objective good. The humanitarian catastrophe he presided over has been staggering: the economy utterly collapsed; eight million people fled the country; political opposition was met with violence, torture, and extrajudicial killings; and the 2024 election was stolen, even though his democratic opposition had won 70 percent of the vote. By any reasonable standard, his regime was a criminal enterprise masquerading as a government.

None of this means, however, that we have intervened the right way, or that our motivations are pure—or even decent—or that the consequences for Venezuela, our own country, or the world, will be good.