The creator of Amazon Prime Video’s Jack Ryan has responded to claims that a scene ‘predicted’ Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s downfall.
On January 3, Venezuela’s left-wing leader and his wife were captured at their compound and flown to the US as part of a dramatic overnight special forces operation that also saw strikes on military bases.
The deposed president is now expected to appear in Manhattan federal court on Monday on drugs and weapons charges.
However, following his extraordinary capture, eagle-eyed observers have rushed to declare that a scene from Jack Ryan has eerie parallels to America’s intervention.
The four-part Amazon Prime series, based on Tom Clancy’s original character, stars John Krasinski as Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst who is thrust into a deadly game of cat and mouse throughout Europe and the Middle East.
With a rising terrorist figurehead preparing for a massive attack against the US and her allies, he must undertake a series of dangerous field assignments after he uncovers a suspicious pattern in terrorist communications and financial transactions.
However, despite the final season airing in 2023, the fictional show features a scene from 2019 with Krasinski’s character explaining why Venezuela should be considered ‘a major threat on the world stage’ alongside the likes of Russia, China and North Korea.
Ryan says, after listing the Latin American country as having the largest oil deposit in the world and more gold than all the mines in Africa combined, that: ‘Venezuela is arguably the single greatest resource of oil and minerals on the planet.
‘So why is this country in the midst of one of the greatest humanitarian crises in modern history?’
Focusing on a fictional Venezuelan President, he says how the economy has been crippled and the poverty rate has been risen ‘by almost 400%’.
Ryan also points out how Venezuela is ‘within 30-minute range from the US of next-gen nuclear missiles’.
Now, following the scene becoming viral online, the show’s creator has forcefully rejected any claims that his fictional programme was trying to predict reality.
Speaking to Deadline, Carlot Cuse – who co-created Jack Ryan with Graham Roland and served as showrunner for the first two seasons – said: ‘The goal of that season wasn’t prophecy – it was plausibility.
‘When you ground a story in real geopolitical dynamics, reality has a way of making it rhyme.’
Cuse continued: ‘Graham Roland and I weren’t making a statement – we were telling a fictional character-driven thriller rooted in Venezuela’s long-standing strategic relevance,’ Cuse said. ‘Our job was to make the situation feel credible.’
Following the capture of Maduro, US President Donald Trump has vowed to ‘run the country’ until there is a ‘proper’ transition of power.
He has also promised that US oil companies will move into the country to sell the resource, while warning that the US would stage a second attack if needed.
Jack Ryan is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.
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