Regime change means different things to different people. Either way, it hasn’t happened in Venezuela … yet

Talk of regime change brings up uncomfortable memories of the chaos after the overthrow of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.

By: Andrew Latham, Macalester College, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: January 6, 2026

Words: 951

Last Updated: 3 days, 6 hours ago

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By Andrew Latham, Macalester College

The U.S. mission to seize Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has pushed the concept of regime change back into everyday conversation. “Regime Change in America’s Back Yard,” declared The New Yorker in a piece that typified the response to the Jan. 3 operation that saw Maduro exchange a compound in Caracas for a jail in Brooklyn.

Commentators and politicians have been using the term as shorthand for removing Maduro …

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