President Donald Trump had planned for months to invade Venezuela and seize its real prize, the nation’s vast oil reserves. Capturing President Nicolás Maduro was more pretext than purpose.

This was an act of naked and indefensible aggression. There’s no other way to describe it. It was, as U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said,“a dangerous precedent.”

That goes double for America. Trump has shown he will stop at nothing. He refused to consult Congress or inform the so-called Gang of Eight, the congressional leaders and intelligence committee chairs who are supposed to be notified in advance of U.S. military operations.

If he’s allowed to get away with this, as he likely will, what’s next? Cancelling the next elections? Declaring martial law?

No sympathy for Maduro

Maduro, the ruthless dictator arrested with his wife and flown to New York for trial, deserves no sympathy. He stole the last election to stay in power, then continued to plunge his country into political and economic despair.

But the arrests were plainly cover for a scheme to seize and exploit Venezuela’s vast petroleum reserves to further enrich American oil companies.

We know this from Trump’s own words: “We’re going to have our very large U.S. oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.”

And for themselves, too.

Trump also said the U.S. will “run” Venezuela until “a safe, proper and judicious transition,” which was news to the country’s vice president — and apparently to Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well.

A view from ‘Westonzuela’

He said so little about how that will be done as to make it appear that he will govern Venezuela by the seat of his pants. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, has warned that the Maduro machine could exploit that to remain in power.

Her West Broward congressional district is home to many of Florida’s 300,000-plus Venezuelan refugees. She’s co-chair of the Congressional Venezuela Democracy Caucus. Trump has been trying to revoke the exiles’ Temporary Protected Status so he can deport them.

Her statement recognized tension between satisfaction over Maduro’s removal and concern for the dangers ahead.

“Cutting off the head of a snake is fruitless if it just regrows,” she said. “Venezuelans deserve the promise of democracy and the rule of law, not a state of endless violence and spiraling disorder. My hope is it offers a passage to true democracy and liberation. This action offers beleaguered Venezuelans a chance to seat their true, democratically elected president, Edmundo González.”

Maduro stole the last election.

It is supremely ironic that he was arrested by a president who tried to do the same thing.

What’s next?

The U.S. invaded Panama in 1989 to capture President Manuel Noriega on drug charges similar to those against Maduro. But President George H. W. Bush stopped there. He did not repudiate the treaty that eventually transferred the Panama Canal to Panama. He did not claim to “run” Panama.

Trump came back into office threatening to retake the canal. Panama’s president thought the danger was over. Now, he should be afraid.

Trump has threatened military action against drug smuggling from Mexico, even though its new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, seems to be is doing her best to combat it. And he has made unmistakable threats against Cuba, Colombia and Greenland, a territory of Denmark, a NATO ally. There needs to be an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

Here in South Florida, the Cuba lobby appears to see Venezuela as a prototype for overthrowing the Cuban regime, and Trump is so intoxicated with power that he has threatened to attack Iran if it uses lethal force on pro-democracy protesters.

Iran has lots of oil, too.

As Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Orlando, said: “Authoritarians like Donald Trump will always seek justification to break the law in order to start foreign wars for unclear reasons. … Congress must immediately vote on a War Powers Resolution to stop Trump’s illegal actions.”

So it should. More likely, Congress will play dead again. But there’s always hope.

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The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.

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