Bret Stephens is right about two things: Maduro is a really bad guy who is responsible for immiserating his people; and neither carrots nor financial sticks have done anything to budge him. Stephens draws the conclusion that we should send in the military and depose him. Is that a good idea?
It makes more sense than occupying Panama, because we can justly argue that we are putting the guy who actually won the latest election in power. Given Trump’s rhetoric, however, it is unlikely that anyone in Latin America will accept a liberal democratic justification for the intervention. Everyone will assume that Uncle Sam has gone back to being an imperialist gringo again, the continent will move closer to the less threatening Chinese, and we will have to use force again and again to stop it.