Geopolitical sentiments and implications for Sri Lanka

TURNING into 2026, the last week or two has created unprecedented geopolitical upheavals across the globe. These were triggered by what is widely perceived as a United States opera- tion inside

- By Navindra Liyanaarachchi

Caracas, Venezuela, to abduct President Nicolas Maduro. The US intention was not stopped at accusing President Maduro as a narco-terrorist, but also appears aimed at overtaking Venezuela’s future with a strong interest in its heavy crude oil reserves, which were nationalised by the late President Hugo Chavez.

Regime change is not a significant element of President Trump’s MAGA policy, but it resembles the long experience of US policy towards its Latin American neighbors. This incident resonates with the arrest of Panama’s former president Manuel Antonio Noriega, who was also accused of narco-terrorism and other crimes. In fact, the real story was about controlling the Panama Canal much like today’s struggle to control the world’s largest crude oil reserves in Venezuela.

Noriega was convicted in a US Federal Court in 1992 and imprisoned for 40 years, though the sentence was later reduced. He was then sent to France for further charges and later extradited to his home country in 2011, where he was placed under house arrest and later died.