Heine Quoted on Venezuela’s Precedent and Reshaping Global Politics
In a POLITICO article titled After Venezuela operation, Trump says the whole hemisphere is in play, Jorge Heine, former Chilean ambassador and professor at Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Studies, was cited. The authors, Eli Stokols and Daniella Cheslow, covered how the Trump administration’s seizure of Venezuela’s president and its declaration that “the whole hemisphere is in play” has sent shockwaves well beyond Latin America. While U.S. officials framed the operation as a warning to regional governments, Heine sees wider and more dangerous implications. The move, he argues, signals a willingness to disregard sovereignty that could reverberate globally, not just across the Americas.
He cautions that Washington’s actions in Venezuela may inadvertently legitimize similar behavior by other great powers. In particular, he notes how Beijing could interpret the episode as precedent-setting. If the United States can justify regime change and military intervention in its claimed sphere of influence, Heine suggests, China may feel emboldened to press its own territorial ambitions with greater force.
Beijing’s reasoning may be, ‘Well, why not Taiwan?’” Heine warned. “You could say China has a much more significant claim on Taiwan than the United States on Venezuela.
For Heine, the danger lies not only in immediate regional instability, but in the erosion of norms that have constrained great-power conflict for decades. As Washington signals a revived, expansive interpretation of hemispheric dominance, he argues, the long-term cost may be a more permissive global environment for coercion—one in which rival powers feel justified in testing boundaries elsewhere, with consequences far beyond Latin America.
The full article can be read here.
A former research professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Jorge Heine is a diplomat, international relations scholar, and lawyer. He is currently a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute. He has served as an ambassador of Chile to China, India, and South Africa. Heine has written over fifteen books, including The Non-Aligned World: Striking Out in an Era of Great Power Competition (2025), which provides insights on how the Global South can navigate the changing diplomatic landscape amid the U.S.-China rivalry.