Wednesday, January 30, 2019

The History of the United States’ Imperial Aggression against Venezuela


            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. 

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