Between the 15th and 17th centuries a group of Spanish and Portuguese explorers and soldiers became fixated on the idea that somehow the world was their oyster. Resource-poor Iberian states were drawn to the wealth of other nations in the same way that flies are drawn to decaying matter. Conquistador Hall-of-Famers like Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro invaded the land of the Aztecs and the Incas and laid waste to the civilisations built by these first citizens of the Americas.

Rape, plunder, and some good old-fashioned biblical genocide became the order of the day wherever the Spanish and Portuguese plague descended. Like the modern-day Americans, the conquistadors used some high-minded rhetoric to justify their immoral grift. Gold and other precious metals were all the motivation needed to launch the ships of the conquistadors, but it would not have been politically incorrect to say that quiet part out loud. Rather than openly stating that they were in the business of stealing everything that was not nailed down, the conquistadors claimed that they were really doing the Lord’s work of finding new converts for the Church. In 1452 and 1455 Pope Nicolas V issued two papal bulls. These papal bulls granted Portugal the right to conquer non-Christian lands and enslave Saracens, pagans (Muslims), and other unbelievers. The Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 would later divide the world that was new to Europeans between Portugal and Spain.

The Doctrine of Discovery which emerged out of these papal documents provided Christian European nations with a quasi-legal basis to invade and take over the land of others. Having been blessed by the Catholic Church, the conquistadors prosecuted their genocidal campaigns with the fervour of the most dedicated and deranged religious crackpots. Their superior weaponry and the deadly diseases they introduced into the world that was new to them decimated the population of the first citizens of the Americas and the Caribbean.

The system of colonisation was the logical after-birth of the Doctrine of Discovery. Europeans discovered (stole) land in the Americas, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. No group of indigenous people were safe from the rapacious and murderous marauders marching with the cross of Jesus going on to war. Europeans would continue to act like they were the lords of the universe until Adolph Hitler turned the tables and started giving Europeans a taste of their own medicine.

The US, notwithstanding its high-sounding principle about democracy and the inalienable rights of human beings, could not resist getting in on the feeding frenzy that brought untold wealth to the nations of Europe. When President James Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine (now renamed the Donroe Doctrine) in 1823, America was signalling to the world that Latin America and the Caribbean would be America’s oyster. European and other nations were strictly forbidden to engage in any political tomfoolery in Latin America and the Caribbean. The kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro is nothing more than the latest political atrocity committed by the Americans in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In true conquistador style, US President Donald Trump pointed to himself and those standing behind him when asked about who would run Venezuela after the removal of Maduro. Trump also accused Venezuela of stealing American oil which mysteriously had formed under Venezuelan soil. Just how American oil got buried under Venezuela’s soil is anybody’s guess.

You just have to love President Trump for the way in which he dispensed with all the niceties about removing Maduro in the interest of democracy and freedom in Venezuela. The 25 times, by my count, President Trump mentioned oil in his press conference made it crystal clear that it is all about the oil — stolen and otherwise. Hopefully, future American presidents will be equally forthright when stating their reasons for invading and stealing stuff from other nations.

It is left to be seen which other nations will follow the precedent laid down by President Trump. What is to stop Russia from kidnapping the president of Ukraine and fully taking over that nation. The Chinese could also see the events in Venezuela as a green light to invade and take over Taiwan. Israel will no doubt interpret Venezuela as permission to finish the job that it started in Gaza and the West Bank. Presidents and prime ministers of small, weak states should be having sleepless nights now that the international rule of law has been replaced by the rule that says might is right.

American foreign policy is making the world a very dangerous place. In addition to being provided with a precedent for launching an invasion of Taiwan, China has also potentially lost a good source of fuel now that Trump has regained control over his oil in Venezuela. American piracy has reignited the spectre of global interdiction of ships on the high seas. America is not the only nation that can seize vessels and cargo belonging to other nations. America cannot patrol every nautical mile of the oceans of the world, nor can America control access to all the vital trading routes. This will no doubt lead to disruptions in global trading and possibly an increase in the insurance rates charged to shippers.

Further incursions into sovereign states in the Caribbean and Latin America will most likely produce greater political instability in the two regions. The ease with which President Maduro was spirited out of his country suggests that no nation in Latin America and the Caribbean has the military capacity to resist malevolent American military foreign policy initiatives. This, regrettably, may lead to a burgeoning of terrorist activity as malcontents seek for softer targets that are connected to American interest.

African nations should be mindful that history has a way of repeating itself and another scramble for Africa is not completely off the table. What is happening in the Sahelian states should be duplicated all over the African continent as a safeguard against foreign military interventions. Africa needs its own Article V that would ensure that an attack against one African nation would be treated as an attack against several, if not all, African nations.

Presently, we may be enjoying the last days of peace and security as the age of the conquistadors is resurrected globally. In an age where might is right, any card can play. A rules-based order ceases to function if the nations with the most firepower decide to flout the rules. America has chosen to disregard the rules and it is just a matter of time before other nations with comparable firepower follow suit. The dogs of war and instability are howling and may soon be let loose on a world that will become dangerous and unrecognisable to those who have lived during the last half-century.

Lenrod Nzulu Baraka is the founder of Afro-Caribbean Spiritual Teaching Center and the author of The Rebirth of Black Civilization: Making Africa and the Caribbean Great Again. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or rodneynimrod2@gmail.com.

Nicholas Maduro (Photo: AFP)

A section of a map showing Venezuela.

Lenrod Nzulu Baraka