[UNLOCKED] Venezuela Pt. 5: Monroe Doctrine 2.0 w/ José Luis Granados Ceja

Upstream

News, Politics, Society & Culture

4.9 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2026

⏱️ 90 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is an unlocked version of the Patreon episode "Venezuela Pt. 5: Monroe Doctrine 2.0 w/ José Luis Granados Ceja." You can listen to our entire 5-part series on Venezuela by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast

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In Part 5 of our ongoing series on Venezuela, José Luis Granados Ceja joins us to discuss the context within which the US's aggression toward Venezuela is taking place—what we can think of as a Monroe Doctrine 2.0. José Luis Granados Ceja is a journalist with Drop Site News based in Mexico City who has been covering Venezuela for 20 years.

Our conversation begins with an update on the most recent situation in Venezuela. We then go on to discuss the regional implications of the United States' air and sea blockade of Venezuela and how it impacts its allies in the region and how the current blockade escalates the already existing sanctions regime. We discuss the regional layout of Latin America and how different countries in the region are responding to the escalating bifurcation of the region between the United States and China, taking a close look at Mexico and the Sheinbaum administration's approach to this new Cold War. We end the conversation with a look forward and with a call to solidarity with the people and government of Venezuela as it stares down the gunships of the United States.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone. So we recorded this episode with Jose Luis on Friday morning and very early on Saturday morning as I am recording this.
0:14.1	Really, it's the middle of the night. The U.S. launched an illegal bombing campaign on several locations in Venezuela,
0:23.1	including the capital of Caracas.
0:25.7	And so this is all happening in real time right now.
0:28.7	I'm not going to try to provide any kind of like real time analysis of what's going on.
0:34.7	Information is still coming in.
0:36.9	And there are better places to get that kind of like breaking coverage news.
0:42.3	But I just wanted to come in before the episode started and just say that obviously,
0:49.3	this is a horrific escalation and a nightmare for Venezuela, and really for all sane and decent people across the world.
0:57.9	And I honestly didn't think that they were going to do this.
1:02.9	But I guess even as like a grizzled 40-year-old who came of age during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars,
1:10.0	even I thought an actual bombing campaign was just too far for this
1:14.2	ghoulish administration. But I guess the thing about the United States is that it will never cease to
1:20.2	amaze you with its depravity. It is important to note here, I think, that a clear majority of
1:26.6	people in this country do not want
1:28.6	us to go to war with Venezuela. This is really just a handful of oligarchs and ideologues.
1:34.7	And like we've talked about many, many times on this show, it's the dying gasps of an empire
1:39.8	in free fall, wanting to drag down with it anyone and anything within arm's length.
1:46.3	And this, of course, is not about drugs.
1:48.9	It's not about narco-traffickers.
1:51.0	We've covered that at length in our Venezuela series.
1:54.8	It's really not about anything that those in power tell us it's about.
	...

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