Venezuela

Venezuela is a pointed political song that questions the narratives that justify war and violence. It starts with an ordinary fishing boat far out at sea, only to turn immediately into a warning about how it might be destroyed by an American strike. That contrast sets up the central irony: fear and violence are used to justify actions that may be disproportionate or misinformed.

Intelligence claims, about drugs, terrorism, or national security threats, are often taken as fact even when they later prove wrong or exaggerated. The mention of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq calls up the 2003 Iraq War, where flawed intelligence led to a destructive war, suggesting a parallel with other U.S. military actions. The war was started on the pretense of WMD, but none were ever found.

Claims defending the bombing of these boats refer to Venezuela producing fentanyl or cocaine. But in reality, Venezuela is not a major producer of fentanyl, and its role in the cocaine trade is complex and overstated in political rhetoric. By juxtaposing “0%” production with lethal force, the song critiques the gap between stated reasons for intervention and actual data.

When the song was published, the United States, under President Donald Trump, had begun a lethal campaign of strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific, which the administration said were intended to stop drugs from entering the U.S. These strikes, carried out by military aircraft and naval forces, resulted in multiple boats being sunk and dozens of deaths. U.S. officials provided little evidence linking any vessel to drugs.

The song references the notion that war can be justified as liberation, safety, or national interest — and then points out how the same justifications can easily mask economic motives, such as access to oil. Venezuela has some of the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and control over those resources has long been a factor in U.S.–Venezuela relations.

Venezuela, as in the tradition of protest songs, uses specific moments of foreign policy and tension to ask broader questions about imperialism, intelligence failures, and how easily individual lives are, in effect, “expendable” in pursuit of geopolitical goals.

The references to Johnny function as a stand-in for an average American — a familiar, everyman name used to show how ordinary people are encouraged to accept or ignore distant violence done in their name.

The “Nobel carrot” line is layered satire. It refers to Donald Trump’s long-expressed desire for a Nobel Peace Prize — the “carrot” offered as a moral incentive to guide behavior. Traditionally, a carrot motivates cooperation in pulling a cart, while a stick threatens punishment. The song mocks this framework. Trump, often caricatured as orange-skinned himself, is portrayed as unmoved by humanist peace incentives and more motivated by power, dominance, and oil interests, which should disqualify him for any peace prize.

Pete refers to Pete Hegseth, head of the Department of War (formerly the Department of Defense), and Marco refers to Marco Rubio, Secretary of State. Their inclusion points to the institutional and administrative machinery behind foreign policy decisions, emphasizing that these actions are not impulsive but enabled and executed by named officials within the administration.