Mehdi Hasan debates ex-Venezuelan opposition envoy Vanessa Neumann on US regime commerce, oil and the fight for democracy.
In January 2026, Venezuela entered a deeply contested chapter after the US removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. While the operation became hailed by some as the terminate of a brutal dictatorship, critics argue it violated global law and modified one crisis with another.
US President Donald Trump now boasts of controlling Venezuela’s oil, as the country’s intervening time management strikes affords with Washington. Some call this a mandatory transition. Opponents issue it appears dangerously colonial.
So, has Venezuela moved closer to democracy, and will Venezuela’s future be made up our minds by Venezuelans or by the US?
Mehdi Hasan goes head-to-head with Vanessa Neumann, who served as the Venezuelan opposition’s ambassador to the UK and Ireland. She defends Trump’s intervention and argues Maduro’s tumble became prolonged previous due.
Becoming a member of the dialogue are:
Alejandro Velasco – Companion professor of historic previous at New York University
Estefanía Melendez – Former diplomatic envoy for the Venezuelan opposition and partner fellow at the Centre for the See of Democracy
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera – Professor of global law at Birkbeck College, University of London
