The
Trump administration’s advocacy of and support for a coup in Venezuela is the most aggressive and recent iteration of Washington’s decades long policy of
installing business friendly, reactionary right-wing dictatorships in South
America after removing and destroying the democratically elected governments (Pinochet
over Allende in Chile, etc.). Venezuela’s
foreign minister Jorge Arreaza exposed the irony and hypocrisy of Mike Pence's comments calling for more intervention in Venezuela while the Trump administration is simultaneously enforcing the racist policy of separating immigrant families, many of whom are fleeing states destroyed by the United States, and placing children in cages. This is another instance which, as Noam Chomsky points out, illustrates that the United States has as much interest in
democracy as the former Soviet Union had in socialism.
The
recent aggressive assault on Venezuela’s democracy was precipitated by
Washington’s support for Juan Gauido’s claim, after being elected president of
the National Assembly, that he is actually the president of Venezuela. Gauido’s claim is as ludicrous as if Nancy
Pelosi, being elected Speaker of the House, claimed that she was actually the
president of the United States at the behest and with the support of a foreign nation. This is
not how democracy functions, these are the machinations of an autocratic
dictatorship.
As
with all of the Trump administration’s policies, the policy towards Venezuela is
not merely the most recent iteration of decades old policies but has, in fact,
removed the pretense of interest in democracy by openly declaring the real
motivation in Venezuela. John Bolton
went on Fox Business and openly declared that the United States would profit
from privatizing Venezuela’s oil production.
Rather than confronting the existential crisis of the looming ecological
catastrophe driven by reliance on fossil fuels, the Trump administration’s
policies constitute racing towards the precipice by opposing transitioning
towards renewable energy and working to steal through violence the oil reserves
of foreign nations.
As
testament to the United States’ murderous history of imperial hegemony in South
America the Trump administration has appointed Elliot Abrams to manage the coup
or, as they would prefer, the “transition to democracy.” Abrams is a criminal convicted for lying to federal investigators about the Iran-Contra scandal and who advocated the death
squads of central and South America that drowned the region in blood during
Reagan’s terrorist wars in the region in the 80’s. This is the second overt attempt to overthrow
the democratic government of Venezuela with a coup, the first occurring in 2002
with the attempted military coup against Hugo Chavez which was captured on film by Irish documentarians who happened to be there making a documentary
on the Bolivarian revolution.
Laying
the groundwork for the ongoing attempt to overthrow the elected Nicolas Maduro government
of Venezuela is the media propaganda campaign citing the humanitarian crisis in
Venezuela and blaming the Maduro government for it when, in fact, it is the effect of both the drop in oil prices and the economic sabotage of Venezuela’s
economy by the United States imposed sanctions which are significantly toxic causal factors.
Former U.N. independent expert Alfred de Zayas points out that the
principle of international law known as ex injuria non oritur jus disqualifies
the United States from demanding regime change as the United States is
principally responsible for initiating and aggravating the crisis to begin
with. All of this also follows the first time in history in which an attempted assassination of a head of state by drone targeted Maduro.
The
United States must immediately cease the ongoing policy of advocating a coup in
Venezuela, remove the hostile imposed sanctions that have severely aggravated the
humanitarian crisis it so decries, and recognize and respect the democracy of Venezuela.
