Americans in Luxembourg criticise Trump on Maduro capture, Greenland threats

Americans living in the Grand Duchy have branded President Donald Trump’s capture of Maduro and subsequent suggestions that the US could invade Greenland “a big mistake” and “ridiculous”.

The US struck Venezuela’s capital city Caracas early on 3 January, capturing the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and taking him to the US where he is facing charges of drug trafficking.

“I think it’s a big mistake,” 52-year-old LaTasha Baker told the Luxembourg Times, criticising Trump for not tackling problems at home such as the opioid crisis or the economy, but instead entering another country and capturing a president.

Trump has said his country would “run” the South American country in the interim, although there is no clear plan on how it would put this into practice in the short-term and what might happen to Venezuela in the longer term. Trump also claimed Thursday that the US would control Venezuela’s vast oil reserves for years to come – as well as the country itself.

In determining what might happen in Venezuela, Baker, a US national who resides in Luxembourg, said that the “next six to 12 months are very critical”. She added that the situation is blurred, with Trump having conducted a military operation “without a clear international mandate or even a long-term strategy”.

Maduro had been in power since 2013 and international powers including the European Union and United States have long criticised his rule in Venezuela, which is often branded as a narco-state. The EU has had a sanctions regime in place in Venezuela since 2017 which targets 69 individuals responsible for democracy violations, the rule of law, or human rights in the country.

But despite years of US and international condemnation of the Venezuelan president, Amanda Bjorling, a teacher at the International School of Luxembourg (ISL), described shock at seeing the US strike Caracas and take Maduro.

“It felt very surreal in a lot of ways,” she said, telling the Luxembourg Times she thinks it is a “distraction technique” to divert attention away from internal American issues, such as the release of the Epstein files or that Trump’s Republican party might lose the next mid-term elections later this year.

“It’s one of the oldest tricks in the books, where if we can’t solve things from the inside we go to war and we take a fight with someone else, because then we have to be unified because we’re fighting this outside force,” Bjorling said.

Trump long framed his campaign and war against Maduro as focused on threats from drugs and terrorism. At a press briefing on 3 January after capturing the Venezuelan president he called him an “illegitimate dictator” and “the kingpin of a vast criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and illicit drugs into the United States”.

American resident in the Grand Duchy Ian Moravec said in response to a Luxembourg Times questionnaire that there were “strategic reasons” for Maduro’s capture.

“One being taking a bit more control over the issues the US has had for years now with lack of policing from countries allowing a constant flow of illegal drugs and other individuals entering the US with little to no checks,” Moravec said.

Greeland threat

Shortly after the capture of Maduro, President Trump then began strongly hinting that the US wants to acquire Greenland. He has not ruled out the use of military force to take the Danish territory, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday.

Both Bjorling and Baker said they do not think the US would actually invade Greenland. “I think it is rather ridiculous,” said Bjorling. “We cannot go to war with the European Union.”

Baker said any invasion of Greenland would make the US look “unstable” and “even capricious”.

Invading Greenland “goes against our fundamental and international arm, instead of reinforcing alliances, which would be a good thing […] it’s very dangerous because it would fracture our NATO cohesion and it would make our foreign policy look very unpredictable”, she said.

Baker added that US “would do well” to keep European alliances it has had in place since World War Two.

James Buckner, who also lives in Luxembourg and comes from the US, said in response to the Luxembourg Times questionnaire that he thinks the “pursuit of Greenland” will cause more problems in the short and long-term.

“Trump sees the world through the eyes of a child wanting as many possessions as possible to proclaim his superiority over anyone or any country,” Patricia Perrier, who does not live in the Grand Duchy, but has dual US-Luxembourg citizenship said. “His administration and cabinet are equally as power-hungry.”

Anne Rasmussen, a Dane in Luxembourg, said only the “Greenlanders should decide their fate”.

But “the US seems to be the biggest risk in the world now”, said Rasmussen. “I am scared that the actions he [Trump] takes now [would] create very long-term damages.”