No it's not altruistic at all. Not when it now looks like Noble Peace Prize winning Machado is going to be sidelined. I suspect the big issue is she has no backers from the corrupt military, so it could all fall into a ugly civil war if she was put forward to govern now.
Trump is a deal maker. This is just another (very large scale) deal for him.
US chucks in billions of dollars in exchange for unlimited oil access. Also ticks off boxes like getting Venezuelan immigrants returning home, and telling China, Latin America is 'our back yard'.
But it's not like Chile 1973 or 1980s Nicaragua. It's very different, shaping up as a fairly bloodless (cross fingers) coup d'etat. Maduro was/is a dictator, stealing power. It's generally accepted by international observers he lost the last election in a landslide. It wasn't even remotely close. The majority of the population want him gone.
This all suits Trump. His MAGA base don't want a drawn out US occupation/war. This is the age of cell phones and any atrocities/deaths uploaded on the internet in seconds. You can't hide bodies of nuns in mass jungle graves like the bad old days. Horrible stuff on the internet is bad for your polling and popularity.
Trump is a deal maker. This is just another (very large scale) deal for him.
US chucks in billions of dollars in exchange for unlimited oil access. Also ticks off boxes like getting Venezuelan immigrants returning home, and telling China, Latin America is 'our back yard'.
But it's not like Chile 1973 or 1980s Nicaragua. It's very different, shaping up as a fairly bloodless (cross fingers) coup d'etat. Maduro was/is a dictator, stealing power. It's generally accepted by international observers he lost the last election in a landslide. It wasn't even remotely close. The majority of the population want him gone.
This all suits Trump. His MAGA base don't want a drawn out US occupation/war. This is the age of cell phones and any atrocities/deaths uploaded on the internet in seconds. You can't hide bodies of nuns in mass jungle graves like the bad old days. Horrible stuff on the internet is bad for your polling and popularity.