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User: translate to english: https://silviosantosblog.blogspot.com/2026/01/porque-os-eua-atacaram-venezuela.html?m1&utmsource…

translate to english: https://silviosantosblog.blogspot.com/2026/01/porque-os-eua-atacaram-venezuela.html?m=1&utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio

Assistant: Here’s an English translation of the Portuguese article from that blog post:

Here’s an English translation of the Portuguese article from that blog post:

Why the U.S. Attacked Venezuela

(Translated from silviosantosblog.blogspot.com — opinion / commentary)

The U.S. attack on Venezuela on January 3, 2026 wasn’t about fighting drug trafficking, terrorism, or “saving democracy,” as the official press and the lapdogs of capital claim. The real reason goes back to 1974, when Henry Kissinger (Secretary of State under Nixon and Ford) made a deal with Saudi Arabia creating the petrodollar system — a system that helped keep the U.S. economically dominant for the past 50 years.

Under that agreement, all oil sold internationally had to be priced in U.S. dollars. In return, the United States provided military protection. This created a global artificial demand for dollars — because every country in the world needed dollars to buy oil. It allowed the U.S. to print money without other countries doing the same. The petrodollar is more important to U.S. hegemony than aircraft carriers.

The situation started to shift when Venezuela — with its 303 billion barrels of oil reserves (the largest in the world, more than Saudi Arabia) — began selling oil in yuan, euro, ruble, or any currency except the dollar, and also sought to join BRICS.

Consider this:

• Russia has been selling oil in rubles and yuan since its war with Ukraine.
• Saudi Arabia is openly discussing pricing oil in yuan.
• Iran has traded oil in non-dollar currencies for years.
• China built CIPS, its alternative to SWIFT, with nearly 5,000 banks in 185 countries.
• BRICS is actively building payment systems that bypass the dollar entirely.
• The mBridge project enables central banks to settle transactions instantly in local currencies.

Venezuela joining BRICS with its massive oil reserves would accelerate all of this. That is what this invasion is about.

Look at history — what happened to leaders who challenged the petrodollar system?

• In 2000, Saddam Hussein announced Iraq would sell oil in euros. In 2003, the U.S. invaded, Saddam was killed, a regime change occurred, and Iraqi oil returned to being priced in dollars. The so-called “weapons of mass destruction” were never found because they never existed.
• In 2009, Gaddafi proposed an African gold-backed currency for oil trade. In 2011, NATO bombed Libya, Gaddafi was sodomized and killed, and the gold-backed currency idea died. Leaked emails from Hillary Clinton (then Secretary of State) confirmed this was the main reason for the intervention.

The invasion of Venezuela and the arrest of Maduro is a repetition of this modus operandi, which the rest of the world watches but often pretends not to see, preferring to accept implausible official narratives.

It is not about combating drug trafficking. Venezuela accounts for less than 1% of the cocaine consumed in the U.S. It is not about terrorism — there’s no evidence that Maduro leads a “terrorist organization.” It is not about democracy — the U.S. backs Saudi Arabia, a country that doesn’t hold elections.

(End of translation)

Important Context (Outside the Blog Post)

What’s actually happening on the ground — according to verified news sources — is that the U.S. military carried out a major operation in Venezuela, capturing President Nicolás Maduro (and his wife) and transporting them to the U.S., where he faces drug-related charges. The U.S. claims it acted against a “narco-terrorist” regime, though many legal experts and world leaders say the intervention likely violates international law and represents a serious breach of Venezuelan sovereignty rather than a straightforward law-enforcement action. theguardian.com

If you want, I can also provide a summary of the main factual reporting about the U.S.–Venezuela situation (separate from the blog’s opinion piece).