Reyna-Ganteaume, de Alba & Virgil: WHAT NEXT FOR VENEZUELA UNDER THE “DONROE DOCTRINE”?

Irene Horejs in conversation with Mariano de Alba, Feliciano Reyna-Ganteaume, Roxanna Virgil

WHAT NEXT FOR VENEZUELA UNDER THE “DONROE DOCTRINE”?

In cooperation with the Reseach Group Latin America/University of Vienna and Österreichisches Lateinamerika Institut

On January 3rd  2026, the US launched a military attack against Venezuela´s capital Caracas and captured president Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Little later, US President Trump announced the detention of Maduro for his alleged involvement in “narco-terrorism”. Underlining somehow the renewed US aspiration for hegemony in the region, he also announced the US would “run” Venezuela, seize its oil exports and manage oil revenues “for the good of the American and the Venezuelan people”.

Although clearly in breach of international law, critique of the US attack was rather timid both within the US and among the international community. The EU issued a flaw statement reinstating the need for respect to international law in very general terms and Latin-American countries remained divided on the issue.

Many Venezuelans living outside the country reacted joyful in hope for regime change and the end of political repression and the deep humanitarian crisis in the country which had pushed 8 million Venezuelan into exile, mostly in neighboring countries and the US.

Yet, President Trump sidelined Peace Nobel Prize winner Maria Corina Machado and Delcy Rodriguez, Vicepresident of Nicolas Maduro was sworn as Venezuela’s new president leaving the government of the country largely unchanged and many questions about the US plans for Venezuela so far without clear answers. What comes next for Venezuela – is there any hope for regime change, for political prisoners, for humanitarian relief and economic recovery? What does this renewed hegemonic US policy – called by some “the Donroe-doctorine” mean for the region, in particular for “Venezuela´s allied like Cuba and Nicaragua?

Panelists:

Roxana Vigil, international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, former director for Andean affairs at the National Security Council, Washington, online 

Mariano de Alba, Venezuelan lawyer specialized in international law Associate Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London; former expert on Venezuela for the International Crisis Group.

Feliciano Reyna-Ganteaume, Venezuelan human rights activist, member of the coordination platform of humanitarian NGOs and co-author of various reports on the human rights situation in Venezuela for the UN Human Rights Council

Moderator:
Irene Horejs, Former EU Ambassador, curator at the Bruno Kreisky Forum specialized on Africa and Latinamerica as well as development and humanitarian policy