Hare Quoted on Trump’s Venezuela Strategy
In an article written by Matthew Ward Agius for Deutsche Welle titled What is behind Trump’s ouster of Venezuela’s Maduro?, published on January 3, 2026, Professor Paul Webster Hare, master lecturer at the Pardee School and former British ambassador to Cuba, discussed the Trump administration’s escalating military pressure on Venezuela. While recent actions signal that regime change is now a central U.S. objective, the motivations behind the campaign may be narrower than early speculation suggested.
According to Hare, the White House did not initially enter Trump’s second term seeking to remove President Nicolás Maduro. Instead, Hare argues, Washington’s early strategy focused on pragmatic bargaining,
I don’t think that was the objective in January…. The idea was to do a deal on deportations with Maduro, maybe get some oil concessions for Americans… which would allow him to remain in power.
That approach appears to have shifted following public remarks by Trump’s chief of staff, who openly framed U.S. attacks on Venezuelan vessels as a means of forcing Maduro’s capitulation. While some analysts see the campaign as part of a broader effort to reassert U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere, or even as a prelude to pressure on Cuba, Hare downplays the likelihood of wider regional intervention,
Maduro is illegitimate, but I think it’s seen much more as a special case… I don’t think it would be followed on with further aggression to other countries.
Hare suggests that, rather than signaling a sweeping hemispheric strategy, the administration’s actions reflect a focused concern with the legality of Maduro’s continued rule, shaped by shifting political calculations in Washington. In this reading, Venezuela stands apart from other regional cases, even as the administration’s rhetoric and tactics mark a sharp escalation in U.S.–Venezuela relations.
The full article can be read here.
Paul Webster Hare is a master lecturer at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. He served as British Ambassador to Cuba from 2001 to 2004 and also represented the U.K. to the European Union in Brussels, New York, Portugal, and Venezuela as deputy head of mission. Hare has extensively written about Cuba for renowned news outlets including The Financial Times, The Atlantic, Newsweek, and The Huffington Post. He is also the co-editor of the Palgrave Handbook of Diplomatic Reform and Innovation, which analyzes current practices of diplomacy and proposes practical solutions to improve diplomatic outcomes.