Jason Marzak

been eliminated in the last few years because of the dilapidated state of the oil industry, because of U.S.

sanctions.

And so the programs that were put in place by Chavez during that more

point of a kind of popular authoritarianism no longer exists.

And so one of the challenges for other countries with regard to what's happened now is we were talking about China previously, Venezuela

had owned China tens of billions of dollars in repayments to Chinese loans.

That money was being repaid through oil being given to the Chinese at below market prices, particularly because that oil is being sanctioned.

Most of that money has been paid off to the Chinese through oil, but the Chinese will still have a vested interest in continuing to receive that Venezuelan oil.

Venezuela was also helping to keep the Cuban economy afloat, not just through hard currency, through Cuban security, where the Venezuelan regime was paying the Cuban regime for the services of its people to protect Maduro.

That's why you saw over 30 Cubans who died in the operation last Saturday, but Cuban doctors, but

as well as the Venezuelan oil that was still possible to ship to Cuba being sent there to help that sputtering economy.

So the administration, I think actually importantly, there was a phone call last night between President Trump and President Petro of Colombia.

So some of those threats to Colombia, they seem like they've now subsided just in the last 24 hours.

But it's important to note that Colombia is one of the U.S.

's most important longstanding allies nationally.

In the Western Hemisphere, but that relationship has significantly eroded ever since Petro came to power, actually dating back to the Biden administration, because of the fact that Petro fundamentally does not support the U.S.

anti-narcotics efforts that have been done for decades in collaboration with Columbia.

Where does this leave the U.S.

in the hemisphere?

To establish that presence, the hemisphere doesn't want more U.S.