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... The administration's approach envisions the Western Hemisphere " and Latin America in particular " as the United States' primary sphere of influence and the first line of defense for national security.

Mr. Trump's intervention in Venezuela this year, ousting unpopular President Nicols Maduro in a military operation, has come to be seen as a rare U.S. foreign policy success for this administration. But the devastation and threatening social collapse " in a country the president in January said the U.S. would "run" " could upend the White House's strategy for the region, analysts say. ...

The administration's approach envisions the Western Hemisphere " and Latin America in particular " as the United States' primary sphere of influence and the first line of defense for national security.

Mr. Trump's intervention in Venezuela this year, ousting unpopular President Nicols Maduro in a military operation, has come to be seen as a rare U.S. foreign policy success for this administration. But the devastation and threatening social collapse " in a country the president in January said the U.S. would "run" " could upend the White House's strategy for the region, analysts say. ...

Mr. Trump has spoken of Venezuela as though his only interest is the country's vast oil wealth, putting less focus on the democratic transition many Venezuelans are eager for. As recently as last week, the president told attendees of a conservative religious conference that since his successful "one-day war" in Venezuela, the U.S. has "taken out millions of barrels of oil, and we've paid for the war many times over."

But now, the two major earthquakes that left at least 2,000 Venezuelans dead and tens of thousands more missing and homeless have highlighted a dysfunctional state apparatus. ...