“Listen to Venezuelans” is self-evidently good advice but the clue is in the final letter of that sentence. This admonition is often presented after a single Venezuelan offers an interpretation as if it were the final say, which is something you would never let fly if you took Venezuela seriously as a real place.

For example: if a 60 year old man travels to Italy, tells everyone at a bar that Trump is saving America from dangerous immigrants, and then says, “Trust me, I am American, I know,” the locals are likely to think that this was an interesting encounter but that they already knew from looking at the news for two seconds that this view is not universal in the USA. The racist in that bar is going to be most likely to enjoy the experience, and consider his own interpretation confirmed. Likewise, if a 22-year-old in a socialist party presents their interpretation of US politics while in Canada, this may be fascinating and informative, but she will add nothing to the account by saying “listen to Americans” except condescension. Canadians already know that there are varied opinions in the USA, because they see it as an actual country.

I lived in Caracas and have many friends there. It is trivially easy to go online and find a single Venezuelan that will confirm whatever you already think, whether you believe Maduro should be the president or imprisoned for treason, or if you think that the pyramids at Giza were built by aliens. For what it’s worth, it is an empirical fact that a majority of Venezuelans surveyed in November said they oppose US military action. I say all of this not to ask that we discard every viewpoint in the elite diaspora (though we might recognize their particularity). My point is that Venezuela is a real country, as diverse and complicated as your own (probably moreso).

Anyways, I am a US American, so you can take it from me: last weekend’s attack was a criminal act of imperialist aggression, and you should take my president seriously when he says that the point was to terrify and coerce Latin America into serving his interests.