I cannot speak for Washington D.C. but the main concern for many U.S. citizens to prevent Civil War.

Talking to Latin American neighbors of Venezuela, the sentiment has been the US would have to step in to prevent strife in Venezuela from spreading and intervention from neighboring countries would not help.

Could it be a misinformation campaign?? Possibly. The defense industry around the world exists by making profits. How do they make profits? By identifying "bad actors" and "non-state actors" and "rogue nations" and selling the public that they should support an armed effort to subdue and neutralize "problems".

My sense as a U.S. citizen looking at the full picture is... mongering begets mongering whether it is fear, uncertainty, despair, war, what ever...

The only problem with Venazuela now as a blockchain advocate is that participating in the Petro ICO could be considered aiding and abetting a hostile foreign nation or whatever the official terminology is.