US capture of Venezuela’s Maduro hints at broader strategy against China’s energy access

FILIPINO international law expert Dr. Melissa Loja on Monday said the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife may form part of a wider geopolitical strategy of the US aimed at constraining China’s access to energy, rather than a narrowly defined law-enforcement action. Loja told The Manila Times that the operation, in which American special forces reportedly took Maduro into custody to face trial in the United States for alleged narco-terrorism, should be assessed alongside recent US military and political actions affecting major oil-producing and transit regions. She argued that when viewed together with the failed US invasion…