India, Jan. 4 -- The United States' Operation Absolute Resolve on January 3, 2026, has made global headlines. US troops attacked Venezuela, captured its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife under the cover of darkness and flew them to New York City to face what it called 'legal action for abetting narco terrorism'

As the world still absorbs the aftershocks of the operation, Down To Earth spoke to Aprajita Kashyap, Associate Professor at the Centre for the Study of the Americas, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University about the history of US intervention in the Western Hemisphere and what lies ahead for Venezuela's oil reserves, the largest in the world. Excerpts

Rajat Ghai (RG): The US has a long history of interve...