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Fuerte Tiuna (military complex)
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La Carlota airbase
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Government and airport facilities around Caracas
Supporters described Delta-style precision, minimal casualties, and a negotiated exit scenario—Maduro removed, not assassinated.
Opponents described civilian infrastructure strikes, helicopters over Caracas, and information blackouts—language chillingly familiar from Baghdad (2003) and Tripoli (2011).
The same event, two moral verdicts.
A 1933 warning is being quoted again for a reason.
Smedley Butler, the most decorated U.S. Marine of his time, famously called himself “a racketeer for capitalism,” listing interventions done for oil, banks, and corporate interests.
That quote now frames the loudest accusation:
“Same script. Different location. Install democracy. Get oil.”
Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
No serious analysis can pretend that fact is irrelevant.
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Venezuelan opposition figures and diaspora communities in Florida openly celebrated, chanting “libertad.”
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Governments including Brazil, Iran, and others condemned the action as a sovereignty violation.
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Russia and China issued statements—but online discourse mocked them as “useless allies when it mattered.”
Meanwhile, U.S. anti-war groups invoked the War Powers Resolution, arguing that only Congress can authorize offensive hostilities, making the operation unconstitutional regardless of Maduro’s crimes.
