Season 2 of the adventures of Tom Clancy’s CIA man has arrived and the target is “Venezuela,” a mythical Latin American country where Americans like Elliot Abrams and Mike Pompeo like to project feelings of aggression and domination. The show intends to entertain and to inculcate Americas in the false narrative that Venezuela is some kind of threat. You could call it “regime change propaganda,” or you could call it utter bullsh*t, depending on your vocabulary.
Venezuela, the real country of 30 million people, is in the throes of a deep social crisis. It is a country that needs a peaceful negotiated settlement of its profound political differences. The opposition, led by novice Juan Guaido, has a solid base of public support. So does the government of President Nicholas Maduro. Norway has been facilitating negotiations and the Washington press corps has studiously avoided covering the talks.
Under President Trump U.S. policy toward Venezuela amounts to “regime change.” Unfortunately, except for Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie Sanders, most Democratic presidential candidates effectively support Trump’s policy.
Historically, CIA operations to overthrow governments that offend Washington have followed certain rules. See my guide, “Seven Rules of Regime Change.”
It is true that the Venezuelan government and its intelligence agency, SEBIN, have a poor record on human rights and torture. The CIA also has a poor record on torture, as shown in new movie, The Report. And Jack Ryan is no anti-torture crusader. He’s a fantasy generated by an empire in decay.
