On a cold day in January, BGSU faculty convened a roundtable discussion examining the implications of U.S. intervention in Venezuela and what it reveals about today’s changing international system. The panel included History Chair and Faculty member, Dr. Amilcar Challu, Dr. Valeria Grinberg, Professor of Spanish and Director of the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, Dr. Michaela Domiano, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, Dr. Neal Jesse, Chair of the Department of Political Science, and Dr. Beatrice Guenther, Director of the International Studies program.
Dr. Challu argued that U.S. involvement in Venezuela fits a long historical pattern of intervention in Latin America and signals a shift away from the post–World War II, rules-based international order toward openly asserted strategic and economic interests. Using the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, Dr. Grinberg showed how interventions framed around democracy and human rights often obscure violent realities, warning that today’s discourse on Venezuela reflects a troubling erosion of even that rhetorical commitment.
Dr. Domiano focused on Venezuelan migration through the Darien Gap, highlighting the extreme dangers migrants face and emphasizing the crisis as a humanitarian catastrophe shaped by regional and global forces, while Dr. Jesse placed Venezuela within the broader collapse of the liberal international order. He argued that global politics is increasingly organized around spheres of influence and power competition rather than international norms and institutions.
Dr. Beatrice Guenther helped to moderate the conversation, and framed the discussion around Venezuela as both a regional crisis and a lens for understanding larger transformations in global politics, guiding the discussion across historical, political, and human dimensions. Together, the panelists offered a sobering assessment of the changing state of the world in respect to the newest developments of U.S. intervention in Venezuela.