The recent kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro was not a “counter-narcotics” initiative: it was the culmination of a long-running hybrid warfare strategy aimed at regime change in Caracas.

US strategic planners are pursuing regime change while seeking to avoid the political costs of open war. Instead of relying on direct military occupation, they prefer to blend methods such as economic strangulation, lawfare, diplomatic isolation, covert action, and media management into what is known as hybrid warfare — a strategy designed to achieve regime change while preserving the appearance of legality and restraint.

The attempt to oust Venezuela’s government is not itself new. Ever since the Bolivarian Revolution came to power in 1999 with the election of Hugo Chávez, Venezuela has been subjected to hybrid forms of destabilization. The “War on Drugs” and casting of Maduro as a narco-terrorism chief has, however, gained a central role as a pretext for a long-yearned-for power-grab in Caracas.