Cuba, Colombia, Canada...? Where will the 'president of peace' strike next?

America’s actions in Venezuela are not simply those of a rogue state but something far worse: those of a rogue superpower

- Steve Bloomfield

We can’t say we weren't warned. Page 15 of the new US National Security Strategy (NSS) states: “The United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere.” In the dead of night, that’s exactly what US forces did in Venezuela.

The kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro and his wife - and the near silence so far from the rest of the west - may herald the end of any pretence that international law still matters.

Maduro’s authoritarian rule has been a disaster for Venezuela. Elections have been shams, protesters have been jailed and the economy is a mess. The majority of Venezuelans wanted Maduro gone.

But Trump's military action was not about restoring democracy. In a rambling press conference in Mara-Lago, he said that the US would “run the country” - announcing an occupation that has no legal justification. He talked repeatedly about Venezuela’s oil industry and how American companies would now be “very much involved”.