As Venezuela transformed into the scene of an unprecedented international event, the political thriller series Jack Ryan moved to the centre of public debate. Many viewers saw in one of its scenes something resembling an early prophecy of what later unfolded on the ground. Clips from the second season, which aired years ago, spread widely across social media platforms, amid astonishment at the similarity between television drama and the rapidly unfolding developments in Caracas.
What appeared to some as an extraordinary prediction opened a deeper line of questioning. Did the series truly anticipate the future, or did it instead offer an early exposure of American strategic thinking and its real priorities in Venezuela? Between political fiction and geopolitical reality, drama intersected with oil and gold, while questions of influence, interests, and domination emerged from behind the narrative.
A Clip That Sparked Controversy
Social media users began sharing scenes from the Amazon-produced political thriller Jack Ryan, with some claiming that the series had predicted the crisis in Venezuela.
One user wrote, “There is a scene in season two of Jack Ryan where a small team and a single helicopter attack the presidential palace in Venezuela. I remember thinking how ridiculous that scene was. Clearly, I owe the writers an apology.”
Another commented, “Jack Ryan predicted Venezuela’s future a long time ago.”
A third added, “Jack Ryan, the hero of Tom Clancy’s novels, predicted Venezuela’s chaos while everyone else was busy arguing in seminars. What a strange time. What astonishing accuracy.”
The second season of Jack Ryan, released in 2019, focuses on a fictional character, the Venezuelan president Nicolás Reyes, and follows US intelligence officers as they investigate alleged corruption, election fraud, and political conspiracies.
The storyline drew on real reports from the 2010s concerning Venezuela’s economic crisis, disputed elections, and what it described as authoritarian rule. Several broad themes, such as American intervention, the removal of a corrupt leader, and concerns over stability and resources, resemble events that have occurred more recently.
Jack Ryan
The second season of Jack Ryan, based on the novels of Tom Clancy, included a scene that appeared to anticipate the events that later unfolded in Venezuela and the American attack on it, framing the country as one of the greatest threats to global security.
The series did not merely foreshadow major events. It seemed to outline the entire operation through a non-action-driven but dialogue-heavy scene. In it, CIA analyst Jack Ryan, portrayed by John Krasinski, stands before Washington’s elite and dismantles prevailing assumptions about global threats.
As the audience guesses Russia, China, or North Korea, Ryan turns to Venezuela. At the time, critics reacted negatively to the scene, describing it as condescending, blatant war propaganda, and a new strain of conservative fantasy. Today, it appears more like a leaked classified document released ahead of schedule.
In the scene, Jack Ryan asks, “What do you think is the greatest threat on the global stage?” Someone answers, Russia, certainly. Ryan replies, “Russia, certainly. That shows confidence. I like that. Who said Russia? Does anyone agree?”
Ryan asks again, who else? Another person answers, China. Ryan responds, Good answer. Who else? A third says, North Korea.
Ryan then asks, “Does anyone say Venezuela? No one? Is everyone comfortable with Venezuela? No threat? All right. Let me ask you this question. Which of these countries can claim to have the largest oil reserves on Earth? More than Saudi Arabia. More than Iran.”
Ryan adds, “What about gold? Does its reserve exceed all the mines of Africa combined?”
The scene presents a rapid analysis as Ryan walks through Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, exceeding those of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq, along with its immense wealth of gold and minerals. He then points to the core contradiction in the country. How can the richest resource base on Earth coexist with what he calls the largest humanitarian crisis in modern history?
Ryan ultimately concludes that Venezuela is not weak, but dangerously valuable. The truth, he says, is that Venezuela is, without dispute, the single largest source of oil and minerals on the planet. He warns that the collapse of a state so close to the United States is an invitation for global powers to intervene.
The series portrays a corrupt president, Nicolás Reyes, who turns his country into a haven for crime. This character can be seen as the show’s embodiment of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
From Fiction to Reality
In reality, US President Donald Trump justified intervention in Venezuela using the same premise articulated in the series. The White House announced that the raid was necessary to dismantle a so-called narco state run by the Los Soles cartel. This accusation gained legal weight when Maduro was indicted in 2020 and has now culminated in his arrest.
In the fictional series, Ryan warns the audience, “In the media, they will call it a crisis. But on the international stage, they will call it a failed state. If you have not heard this term before, other examples of failed states in modern history include Yemen, Iraq, and Syria. And if that is not enough bad news, Venezuela is the only one of these countries that sits within thirty minutes of the United States, within range of next-generation nuclear missiles.”
While the reference to nuclear missiles remains science fiction, the description of a failed state is the language Washington now uses. The collapse of Venezuela’s economy, which forced millions of refugees to flee and sharply increased poverty, created a vacuum that the United States seeks to fill with its forces.
Following nighttime air strikes on Caracas and other areas, Trump announced the arrest of Maduro and his transfer by air to the United States to face long-standing drug trafficking charges.
Supporters of the Venezuelan president were shocked by images of him blindfolded and handcuffed, representing the largest American military intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama in 1989.
Trump went further, announcing that the United States would temporarily administer Venezuela, including overseeing its oil reserves, until what he described as a safe, sound, and wise transition of power could be achieved. He stated that major American oil companies would return to rehabilitate the country’s deteriorating energy infrastructure.
Oil and Gold
Venezuela’s natural resource wealth has long been the implicit cause of its conflict with Washington. The country possesses massive reserves of extra-heavy crude oil in the Orinoco Belt. This oil is difficult and costly to refine, but compatible with American refineries, according to a report by India Today.
Even under sanctions, crude oil exports rebounded in 2025, surpassing 900,000 barrels per day. Beyond oil, Venezuela holds vast natural gas reserves and gold rich mining regions, some of which have been linked to illegal mining and armed groups.
American officials have long claimed that this wealth fuels repression and criminal networks. Caracas, in turn, has accused Washington of imperial ambition and a thirst for its oil and minerals. The conflict intensified following disputed elections, sweeping sanctions, and US charges against Maduro in 2020 over orchestrating a narco terrorism conspiracy.
Critics Missed the Point
In 2019, critics expressed concern over Tom Clancy’s portrayal of Venezuela in Jack Ryan. The fictional president Nicolás Reyes, a marginal character, mirrored Maduro’s trajectory. The rise of nationalism, economic collapse, election fraud, and the push toward a failed state.
The American intervention depicted in the series, from covert support to the assault on the palace, triggered accusations of Cold War-era paranoia and a white saviour narrative.
Venezuela’s then minister of culture described the series as war propaganda disguised as entertainment, according to a report published by the Los Angeles Times. Others argued that the clip excessively blurred fiction and reality, particularly as Venezuelans were fleeing the economic collapse in record numbers.
Reflection Rather Than Prediction
Jack Ryan did not predict American helicopters lifting off from Caracas or Maduro’s arrival at a detention facility in New York. What the series captured with striking clarity was the logic that later dominated Washington’s discourse. Venezuela’s vast resources, combined with political collapse and proximity to the United States, did not make it merely a tragedy, but a strategic problem primed to explode.
In a monologue that spread rapidly, Ryan issues a final warning. Unstable governments, he says, are the greatest opportunities for global powers.
Six years later, as the United States debates the meaning of administering Venezuela and the world argues over sovereignty, oil, and intervention, those words no longer sound like mere television dialogue.
In the series, the United States installs a sympathetic transitional government. In 2026, the strategy becomes explicit, with Trump openly stating that the United States will manage the country and directly oversee its oil reserves until a transfer of power becomes possible.
Today, amid sharp condemnation from Russia and China over the American raid and their accusation of hegemonic behaviour, the geopolitical logic of the series has come full circle.
In 2019, the second season of Jack Ryan was described as a confused treatment of current events. In 2026, with Maduro in a Manhattan cell and American forces seeking to secure oil fields, the series appears closer to a roadmap than to a work of fictional espionage.
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