I'm not surprised. President Nicolás Maduro (allegedly but there's solid evidence) rigged last year's election, then used state violence and intimidation to suppress protests.

> Maduro, who started a third term in January after an election widely denounced as a sham, signed a decree on Monday granting him additional, unspecified security powers.

From before

- https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/07/31/suspicious... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41123155)

And he's been jailing protestors without due process and censoring media for a while.

- 2017: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/world/americas/venezuela-... (https://archive.ph/Ljgvs, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14325532)

- 2014: https://web.archive.org/web/20140706094137/http://www.busine... (original link dead, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7241722)

I'm conflicted on US involvement in foreign nations given our past, but I have no sympathy for Maduro's government.