US President Donald Trump has insisted the United States will now be “running” Venezuela after US forces bombed the capital on January 3 and whisked Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife out of the country to face federal charges in New York.
Trump has promised that “large US oil companies” would be going into Venezuela to “start making money”. And in passing, he has also declared that with Maduro gone, Venezuelans “are free” and the country is already becoming “rich and safe” again.
But autocratic regimes do not depend on their leaders alone. They get their strength from the vast bureaucracies and security apparatuses under the leader and the complicity of individuals down the chain of command.
