Should the United States Attack Venezuela?

A military strike against Venezuela would be folly. Countries throughout the region and the United States still have significant leverage over the country — and they should use it. They should continue to pressure Mr. Maduro by deepening the current sanctions regime and by pushing for a diplomatic solution that will lead to legitimate elections. Venezuela in 2018 is not 1989 Panama, and an invasion would not be a surgical strike. Mr. Noriega’s Panama had only 15,000 troops, and the United States had military bases all around the capital. And Panama, a country with fewer than three million people at that time, had a legitimate, already elected president waiting in the wings. More…