Is the U.S. Running Venezuela or Not?

美国是不是在操控委内瑞拉?

Radio Atlantic

2026-01-05

32 分钟
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单集简介 ...

After the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured by U.S. forces over the weekend, President Donald Trump announced that America would now “run” Venezuela. Staff writers Vivian Salama and Michael Scherer break down what might happen next—and what Trump told The Atlantic the day after the capture. --- Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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单集文稿 ...

  • By all accounts, the US military's raid in Venezuela on Saturday was efficient,

  • clean, meticulously planned.

  • President Trump, who watched it unfold in Mar-a-Lago, said it was like a TV show.

  • Dead of night,

  • Delta Force troops burst into Nicolas Maduro's compound and captured him and his wife.

  • Soon after, Trump posted a picture of the Venezuelan dictator on social media, blindfolded,

  • wearing headphones, and with his hands apart, like he'd just dropped the controls.

  • But since that military operation,

  • everything about the US government's entanglement with Venezuela is murky and messy.

  • I'm Hannah Rosen.

  • This is Radio Atlantic.

  • If the goal of the Venezuelan raid was to capture a defendant wanted in US courts

  • for suspected narco-terrorism,

  • then mission accomplished.

  • Maduro should be showing up in a New York courtroom today.

  • But in subsequent interviews, including with Atlantic staff writer Michael Shearer,

  • the president sounds like he's constantly shifting the goalposts.

  • Is the US going to run Venezuela, as Trump suggested on Saturday?

  • Are US companies going to take over the country's oil reserves?

  • And why is Trump now also talking about Greenland?