India’s former Ambassador to Venezuela, Y.K. Sinha, has warned that the reported US military assault on Caracas and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro marks a troubling return to “a bygone era of gunboat diplomacy.” He cautioned that the development could “open a Pandora’s box” in global affairs by encouraging other powerful nations to adopt similar tactics.
Sinha, who served as India’s envoy in Venezuela from 2007 to 2010, compared the reported operation to the 1989 US intervention in Panama that resulted in the arrest of then-leader Manuel Noriega.
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Echoes of the Panama Operation
“It reminds me of an earlier era of gunboat diplomacy… Noriega of Panama was also captured and brought to the US for justice,” Sinha said, suggesting the US appeared to be repeating a familiar pattern of deploying force to detain a foreign leader and place them on trial under its own judicial system.
He added that the large-scale US naval presence in the Caribbean made it clear military action was likely. However, he said the timing and speed still came as a surprise.
“I didn’t expect that in the first few days of the new year, an assault would be launched… and in this manner,” he said, describing what appeared to be the swift dismantling of Venezuelan defences and the capture of Maduro and his wife.
Sinha said the images and messaging from the operation seemed carefully designed to reshape regional perceptions of American power. The transfer of a sitting president to a US-controlled location — including references to a naval vessel, the Guantanamo Bay facility, and eventually a courtroom in New York — was, he argued, part of a broader signal that Washington could still enforce outcomes in its traditional sphere of influence.
‘Return to an Old Model’
Sinha also reflected on US President Donald Trump’s remarks following Maduro’s capture, particularly his comments about Venezuela’s oil sector and opportunities for US companies.
He said Trump’s language suggested a revival of an earlier era in which the US exercised sweeping dominance over Latin America’s resources.
“The power grab or the land grab or resources grab… is nothing new,” Sinha said, noting that Venezuela’s oil industry had historically been controlled by foreign corporations until political shifts under Hugo Chávez curtailed external influence.
He traced the roots of the current crisis to Venezuela’s long-standing struggle over who benefits from its vast petroleum reserves. Before Chávez took office in 1999, Sinha said, “oil production was pretty much in the hands of American and European countries, mainly American.”
Sinha warned that the latest developments could set a dangerous precedent internationally — one where might increasingly overrides established norms and diplomatic processes.
(This story is published from a syndicated feed)
