this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2026
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[–] perestroika@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Assuming he is saying what the military has confirmed to him...

...well, this gives hope that full-scale war won't follow. It seems likely that Maduro had his system running on personal loyalty. If that is so, with him gone, the house of cards is likely to collapse.

A few words about Venezuela's air defense. Or the lack of it - the total lack of it was impressive. And in considerable contrast with Maduro's boastings of how many thousand MANPADS they supposedly had.

A convoy of helicopters which civilians could film slowly proceeded above Caracas and - not a missile, not a quickfire gun, seemingly not a shot was fired at it - unfathomably lucky b******s. A few guys on the wrong randomly picked rooftop could have ruined their day or life, but there were none.

As for what this means politically: Trump should now get a free apartment in the Hague (preferably next to Maduro's and Putin's apartments). But alas, he won't.

Meanwhile, South American countries have good reason to check if they actually have air defense, because with such a president in the US, maybe they will need it.

[–] Gsus4@mander.xyz 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I thought Maduro was just the frontman and Diosdado was the guy really in charge...he already made a statement saying the fight is still on...

link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbgY2oBJRjk

PS: the tramp-clown part of this successful-looking operation seems to have been that he kidnapped the wrong people, lol, maduro had no real power.

[–] perestroika@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

That would be bad news, because then a US-Venezuela war (as opposed to a series on one-sided strikes) would still be on the cards.

I don't know enough about Venezuela to make a good guess.

There's also the question of how quickly (if quickly at all) they could organize reasonably un-manipulated elections. An armed attack has likely triggered special circumstances in Venezuela, and nobody can demand elections right now.

If Maduro's allies try holding on to power, it could end with faction A ruling one province and faction B ruling another...

[–] Gsus4@mander.xyz 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I don't think this is a Lybia scenario, but it may happen is that ~~many~~ all SA leaderships get spooked by this and start hiking military investment and cooperation...

[–] mrdown@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

At this point I want a war in the usa. The us should get some taste of it's own medicine

[–] Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago

I think you underestimate Maduros support, this was not an Assad style house of cards with no civilian support. Maduro may have not won the last election but he definitely didn't lose by the margins the opposition was saying either, the fact that he allowed for elections in the first place shows he thought he could win, so he probably has 30-40% support. Combine that with the opposition being backed by the US and being forced to accept oil privatization which will anger the poor Venezuelans who rely on oil revenues for what's left of the Chavez welfare state, and the opposition to whatever US regime is put in will probably be greater than 50% which combined with the landscape of Venezuela is a recipe for Vietnam 2.