If the US once claimed it was “defending Democracy” to justify attacking countries without pretext, the current administration has made no such excuses.

Last week US security forces abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife from a compound in Caracas in an operation that killed 70 people.

Maduro was presented in a courtroom in Manhattan, on charges of supposedly “importing tons of cocaine into the United States”, and his deputy Delcy Rodriguez was installed in his place as acting President.

To make this all make sense, we speak with Laura Tedesco, a long time openDemocracy contributor and professor of political science and international relations at St. Louis university in Madrid. Prof. Tedesco is also the author of several books on democracy and politics in Latin America.

Read Laura's Book, Latin America's Leaders: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/8711/9781783601028

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