They have an army…
They’re just not at war with anyone.
A bunch of helicopters showed up and dudes with guns jumped out, shot anyone in their way, grabbed the president and his wife, and jumped in another helicopter and flew away.
There was opposition, at least one US helicopter was shot down and “a few” Americans were killed.
But it’s not like anyone saw this coming, because not kidnapping the ruler of a sovereign country is a pretty big thing among world leaders.
Like, you might as well ask why no one stopped Luigi, the target had no idea this was gonna happen until it was happening.
They didn’t shoot the helicopters down instantly, because that would escalate to war.
But every single world leader has heard about this, and when/if they see US troops now, they’re a lot more likely to shoot first. Because now it’s a very real possibility that they will personally be captured, even if there’s no war.
Edit:
And to clarify, it was just a kidnapping and not an invasion.
They left no troops and no attempts to fill a power vacuum or for peacekeeping.
For an invasion, troops stay and there’s something to hit back against.
And I think there’s a chance they took him to NYC so if anyone tries anything to free him, trump blames Mamdani. It would make way more sense to take him to DC.
He said the US is staying and running the country until a transicion period so… Afghanistan/Iraq 2.0?
Except they already left…
And the same government is still running shit.
For the most part, this was an air attack. USA’s air superiority over Venezuela is massive, they didn’t stand a chance.
The US struck military bases before the abduction, ensuring air defense systems are disabled.
The US used low flying helicopters, advanced dark flares to distract air defense systems, and conducting the attack at night made the response even more difficult.
The Venezuelan army is undertrained and underfunded, so imagine it compared to the largest military in the world. I would bet the army is not very skilled at operating air defense systems anyways.
And BTW, they did fight back, even if it seems they didn’t. But they just didn’t stand a chance.
And last, abducting a world leader is unprecedented. Heads of state have always had a level of immunity that all nations respected even when they’re at war, as they are vulnerable. Don’t kill me and I don’t kill you.
Even when they executed Saddam, it was done under the guise of a new Iraqi government doing it. This however is completely different.
The US attack has changed the game, and it may have set the precedence for future head-of-state targetings in the future. But the US likely doesn’t care due to their overwhelming superiority.
TBF, no matter how bad Trump is that does not make his opponents masterminds by any measure. Maduro was a POS and his rule was ineffective and unprepared.
Infinite money thanks to taxes.
