Before dawn broke on Jan. 3, the United States unleashed a military operation in Venezuela, resulting in the kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores de Maduro. The Maduros were sent to be detained in New York City on multiple charges, including narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracies and the possession of machine guns.

While this may seem like obvious information that begs attention, many students in our community may not have any interest in this event. Common sentiments such as “this probably won’t impact me” or it “doesn’t really matter” must be changed. The conflict in Venezuela is imperative to understand and pay attention to. It is our generation’s responsibility to follow current events, so that we can be informed about our country and the state of the world we live in. Knowledge is power, and we cannot disregard it simply because we do not think these events are pertinent to us.

Many students may neglect to follow the conflict in Venezuela due to the belief that it “won’t impact them.” While it may not impact you directly, this conflict is likely to have widespread implications on the future of the United States, such as a drastic change in our country’s foreign policy and the continuation of the U.S. overthrowing foreign country’s leaders. Not following current events also leads to the potential manipulation of the truth itself, which is inherently dangerous and can lead to the distortion of historical accuracy.

This event, along with many others, makes it clear that the U.S. is regressing towards colonialism and imperialism once again, and this is extremely dangerous. Colonizing other countries may seem like an outdated practice, but President Trump’s plan to “run” Venezuela and extract its oil resources sounds scarily similar to neo-colonialism. Trump has named his foreign policy the “Donroe Doctrine,” a direct play on the Monroe Doctrine- which Trump plans to update. The Monroe Doctrine was a foreign policy from 1823 which prohibited the further colonization of the Americas by the Europeans, allowing the United States to further colonize the Americas. It is important to draw these historical parallels in order to understand current events. Having an understanding of the greater context of these events deepens our knowledge of what is going on in Venezuela, as the past can help us understand current events.

This is not the first time that the United States has overthrown a country; in fact, there are 14 separate times when the United States has done this. While not an exhaustive Iist, some of these instances include Hawaii, Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela (in 2002), Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, although our generation is more likely to be familiar with the events in Iraq and Afghanistan, as they happened more recently than some of the other instances. It is important to not only be informed about Venezuela, but to know of other instances where the United States exercised power in order to remove the leader of a country. Understanding history is just as important as being educated on current events; many instances in history have actually led to current events, and understanding our past can help explain why our country is the way it is today.

When students do not follow these events, refusing to self-educate, it allows for higher powers to easily manipulate the truth, and write a potentially corrupted version of what actually happened. If we do not know the truth about events, leaders can simply tell us a narrative that they want us to believe. This is extremely dangerous, and threatens the truth itself. For example, the United States administration is framing Maduro’s capture as the liberation of the Venezuelan people.

According to the U.S. Department of War, Trump stated that, “We have a group of people running [Venezuela] until such a time that it can be put back on track, make a lot of money for [Venezuelans]… give people a great way of life, and also [reimburse the] people in our country who were forced out of Venezuela.”

However, Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, was sworn in as interim President, indicating that Maduro’s regime is still very much present in Venezuela. Although Trump claimed that Rodriguez has the Venezuelans’ best interest in mind, Maduro’s corrupt regime is nowhere near gone. This capture was not a freeing of the Venezuelan people from a corrupt regime; it was a ploy with the intention to extract oil and boost our own country’s economy.

Choosing to be blind to these events does not make them go away. Violence still happens every day in our country, even if you choose not to follow what’s happening. As students, we have a responsibility to stay updated on current events. Our generation is the future of our country, and while these events may not seem like they hold direct importance to us right now, they hold the potential to shape the direction of our country entirely. They will matter soon enough, and we must pay attention before it’s too late. So, educate yourself about Venezuela. Advocate for what you believe is right. But, above all, do not let yourself fall victim to the trap of being uninformed.