The New York Times reported today that Donald Trump has authorized a covert CIA war to overthrow the Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and install a puppet government.
Related:
2014 Venezuelan ‘protests’:
Guarimba is a ‘protest method’ devised by Venezuelan opposition member, Robert Alonso (who collaborated with the CIA to train terrorists). It was ‘inspired’ by Gene Sharp’s book, From Dictatorship to Democracy (see my ‘front organizations’ page for more on Sharp).
Lenin’s Warning and the American Playbook in Venezuela
2002 and Beyond: The Coup, the Network, and the Blueprint for Regime Change
In April 2002, Venezuela’s elected president Hugo Chávez was ousted in a military coup backed by business elites, opposition leaders, and a constellation of foreign-aligned civil society groups. The U.S. government, through the International Republican Institute (IRI) and other proxies, provided funding and political cover to key actors. The Bush administration initially welcomed the coup, only to retreat when Chávez was reinstated by mass mobilization and loyal military ranks.
Among the lesser-known yet pivotal forces at play was the Atlas Network, a libertarian web of think tanks backed by corporate interests and U.S. foundations. Its Venezuelan affiliate, CEDICE Libertad, helped shape the ideological narrative against Chávez, promoting neoliberal reforms and packaging elite restoration in the language of “civil society.” Investigations published by PR Watch revealed that Atlas-aligned groups—many also supported by NED, USAID, and similar funders—coordinated media campaigns, mobilized opposition, and legitimized the coup under the banner of “democracy promotion.”
Atlas’s influence extended well beyond Caracas: its affiliates supported business elites, military dissidents, and foreign-backed NGOs—laying the scaffolding for soft coups masquerading as civic resistance. That 2002 playbook didn’t vanish—it evolved.
Now, in 2025, we witness its resurrection. Opposition leader María Corina Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, is closely tied to Atlas through RELIAL and Liberal International. And Edmundo González, her strategic proxy, fronts a movement whose foundations rest on the same transnational soft-power networks that helped orchestrate the 2002 destabilization. The actors have changed, but the architecture remains.
María Corina Machado is the female Javier Milei (aka US Puppet)
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 