Source: CounterPunch
by Binoy Kampmark
“After retiring from active service, [General Smedley Butler] was frank about what his role had been. Professing to being a ‘racketeer’ and ‘gangster for capitalism,’ he went on to explain how: ‘I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Boys to collect revenues in. I helped the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street.’ That was just a selection. With President Donald Trump in power, we do not need a Butler to give the game away or expose any frightful cabal. The empire is out of the closet, bolshie, bright and more thieving than ever.” (01/13/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/01/13/candid-imperialism-trump-racketeering-and-venezuelan-oil/