Venezuela needs change. Just like Iran, Russia, China, and plenty of other countries around the world. Including Ukraine. And if you don’t know why I’m including them, let me just say that Zalinsky isn’t as friendly as you’ve been led to believe. Remember, the enemy of your enemy is NOT your friend. Anyway…
Venezuela has demonstrably gone downhill since the Chavez government took over in 2002 and started trying to nationalize *everything*. Which that unto itself wouldn’t have been the nails in the coffin for Venezuela, except Chavez – and the later Maduro regime – replaced those who knew how to run the businesses with their political cronies. And when you replace someone who knows what they’re doing with a puppet of the State who ticks all the right political boxes… poverty is the inevitable result.
Just look at their nationalized oil industry. Chavez replaced all the people who knew how to run it with his cronies. And that’s one of the ways Venezuela went from one of the wealthiest countries in South America to one of the poorest in the world. And that’s why socialism inevitably fails… Because those in power favor political alliance over expertise…
So while Venezuela has demonstrably gone downhill and there are numerous human rights violations that likely warrant Maduro being taken to The Hague to stand trial, we should not have gone in and done this without international cooperation. If there was an arrest warrant against Maduro from the International Criminal Court, that’s one thing. But as far as I’m aware, there is no such warrant.
So… this is just about regime change. And the Trump administration installing a puppet government of its own… not a good look on our own domestic front, let alone the international stage.
The United States has tried regime change off and on since WWII. It’s never ended well. Since the fear now is… will Venezuela become another Afghanistan, Libya, or Iraq? And by that, I mean, will someone just as bad or worse than Maduro seize power and plunge Venezuela back into extreme poverty after we leave? History leans toward that being a Yes.
