Under self-appointed interim President Juan Guaidó, Venezuela is poised to accept US humanitarian aid into the beleaguered country. But the history of US intervention in Latin America under the banner of democracy is fraught with connections to crimes against humanity.
The “Great Dying” of Indigenous populations in the Americas after the arrival of Europeans is the largest human mortality event in proportion to the global population, putting it second in absolute terms only to World War II. The devastation of the population also caused a drop in atmospheric CO₂. During this period, severe winters and cold summers caused famines and rebellions from Europe to Japan.