By November 6, the Trump administration has destroyed 17 alleged drug trafficking boats , and has deployed an aircraft carrier group against military-mafia kleptocracy that has devoured Venezuela. Although President Donald Trump has said he will not order strikes within Venezuela for now, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is seeking anti-missile technology from Russia, China and Iran , according to a leaked letter.

But the public focus on these details often misses a crucial piece of the larger picture, namely how Latin America’s leaders abandoned the brave people who have fought Maduro’s vampire regime. It is the massive void they left that the U.S. is now filling.

In May 2023, I met a truly heroic Venezuelan man named Leopoldo López who, as mayor of Chacao, defended his p

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