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Dear Progressive Reader,
President Donald Trump continues to ramp up what appears to be an undeclared war on the South American nation of Venezuela. On Friday, the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford set sail ([link removed]) for the region. The Ford is the world’s largest ([link removed]) aircraft carrier at 100,000 tons, powered by two nuclear reactors, and carrying a crew of nearly 5,000 sailors. This deployment brings the U.S. military presence up to ([link removed]) more than 10,000 troops. In addition, on October 15, the President announced ([link removed]) to the media that he had ordered the CIA to conduct covert operations inside the country—thereby making relatively “overt” these normally
([link removed]) “covert” actions. So far ten boats in the Caribbean and Pacific oceans have been destroyed ([link removed]) by U.S. airstrikes, killing at least forty-three people—some Venezuelans, some citizens of other nations ([link removed]) —none of whom have been tried and convicted of any crime. When asked about the legality of these actions and the need for Congressional approval to engage in such hostilities, Trump said ([link removed]) , “I don’t think we’re necessarily going to ask for a declaration of war. I think we’re just gonna kill people . . . . We’re going to kill them. They’re going to be, like, dead,”
The current military deployment in the region is the largest since the December 1989 invasion of Panama, also ostensibly to oust and capture a “drug dealer,” that country’s leader ([link removed]) , General Manuel Noriega. In the military invasion, titled “Operation Just Cause ([link removed]) ,” the United States deployed 27, 684 troops and more than 300 aircraft, which bombed whole neighborhoods, killing a still unknown number of civilians—although estimates range as high ([link removed]) as several thousand. A 1991 Human Rights Watch report concluded ([link removed]) , “[T]he controversy over the number of civilian casualties should not obscure the important debate on the manner in which those people died.” Twenty-three U.S. soldiers were killed in the operation, and about 325 wounded, but a
percentage of those were from “friendly fire ([link removed]) ”—mainly when troops were ordered to parachute into crossfire from other fellow U.S. soldiers.
The story of the December 1989-January 1990 attack is throughly detailed in the Academy-Award-winning documentary The Panama Deception ([link removed]) , directed by Barbara Trent (whom I met over dinner in Caracas, Venezuela, a few years after a CIA-supported ([link removed]) coup attempt in that country which took place in April 2002). The U.S. invasion of Panama accomplished multiple objectives: Noriega, who had been ([link removed]) on the CIA payroll for decades (receiving $100,000 per year or more ([link removed]) ), but had become “less useful,” was captured and held ([link removed]) in a U.S. maximum security prison for most of the rest of his life. But the invasion also served as a warning to other nations in Central and South America. I did
some reporting in 1990 on how the invasion affected the outcome of that year's Nicaraguan elections, which resulted ([link removed]) in the defeat of Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega and the victory of a more U.S.-friendly president.
In her acceptance speech at the 1993 Academy Awards ceremony, Panama Deception director Trent told ([link removed]) her fellow film industry professionals, “In closing, I'd just like to say we have a tremendous amount of potential in the world. Those of us here have a tremendous amount of potential to impact the world. Let's use it. Let's challenge this new Administration to reverse the legacy that we have left through our policies in the world, and become the Americans that we're capable of.”
This week on our website, Matt Minton reviews ([link removed]) the film The Librarians, which highlights the stories of unsung heroes opposing the banning of books; Eleanor Bader interviews ([link removed]) Joel Berg, the CEO of Hunger Free America; and Julian Cooper reports ([link removed]) on how tech giants are trying to conceal the environmental impacts of their massive data centers. Plus, Mike Ervin takes note ([link removed]) of a radical character on PBS that the Trump Administration has not targeted yet; Opheli Garcia Lawler examines
([link removed]) the way an out-of-state ID can lead to deportation for some; and Alexander Karn looks at ([link removed]) the impact and future of the nationwide “No Kings” rallies that drew more than 7,000,000 people last Saturday. Also, Shyla Lensing pens an op-ed ([link removed]) on the importance of housing for domestic violence survivors; and Whitney Wells opines ([link removed]) on how paid family leave can lead to better health outcomes for all.
And, lest we forget, the new 2026 Hidden History of the United States calendar is now available. It quick look at this week in history illustrates that U.S. intervention in Latin America is not new to the Trump Administration. October 22, 1962, is noted as the anniversary of the day that U.S. President John Kennedy imposed ([link removed]) a “naval quarantine” of Cuba, and October 25, 1983, marks the date of the U.S. invasion ([link removed]) of the independent island nation of Grenada. You can get your calendar on our website ([link removed]) or with the order form in the front of the latest issue of The Progressive!
Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
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