Ordering U.S. diplomatic personnel out of Caracas, 55-year-old Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ratcheted up the pressure on 56-year-old dictator Nicolas Maduro. Dealing with widespread power outages around the country, the chaotic mess once known as oil-rich Venezuela has been exposed for all to see. Maduro promptly blamed the U.S. for sabotaging its electoral grid, claiming the CIA was behind Venezuela’s infrastructure failure. National Assembly Leader 35-year-old Juan Guaido declared himself interim president Jan. 23, invoking the Venezuelan constitution to nullify what he calls a fraudulent election in May last year. Maduro inherited the presidency when the late Hugo Chavez died of cancer March 5, 2013. Both socialist dictators ran Venezuela into the ground, dealing with hyperinflation, currency devaluation and widespread food and medicine shortages around the country.
Since appointing himself interim president, Guaido hasn’t had much success convincing the Venezuelan military to abandon Maduro. No matter how bad conditions are for Venezuelan citizens, the military gets all the perks, including abundant food, water and electricity. Only ordinary citizens scrounge for food in garbage cans, taking water from polluted effluents, not fit for human consumption About 50 nations, including the U.S. and European Union, recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s lawful ruler, despite the fact that Maduro has maintained his grip on power. “The U.S. will withdraw all remaining personnel from [the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela] this week,” Pompeo tweeted, sending a loud message to Caracas. Pompeo’s move raised more speculation about possible U.S. military intervention. With Russia, China and Cuba backing Maduro, the U.S. is the lone wolf.
President Donald Trump hinted at a speech in Miami Feb. 18 that the U.S. would not abandon the Venezuela people in a time of need. Trump ordered thousands of tons of U.S. aid to Venezuela, despite the fact that Maduro has blocked all shipments into the country. Maduro rejects all U.S. aid, whether or not his people are starving or dying from inadequate medical supplies. Now dialysis patients, patients on ventilators or requiring electricity to run life-saving equipment are dying by the droves because of widespread power outages. Maduro’s begun to blame Guaido, claiming he sabotaged Venezuela’s electrical grid. Maduro won’t accept that he’s run Venezueal’s infrastructure into the ground, leaving the country in a desperate state. Without Maduro accepting U.S. aid, Pompeo’s decision to remove U.S. diplomatic personnel indicates that the U.S. could intervene to save Venezuelan lives.
Announcing he’d withdraw U.S. diplomatic personnel from Caracas, Pompeo hinted at the next U.S. direction. “This decision reflects the deteriorating situation in #Venezuela as well as the conclusion that the presence of U.S. diplomatic staff at the embassy has become a constraint on U.S. policy,” tweeted Pompeo. When Pompeo talks about “constraint” on U.S. policy, he’s referring to the possible use of military force to install Guaido as interim president or, at the very least, hold new elections. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the U.S. against meddling in Venezuela’s internal affairs, despite the fact that Moscow has placed some 400 paramilitary advisers in Caracas. Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton see Russia and Cuba’s meddling as preserving Maduro’s regime, something that runs counter to the Truman Doctrine, keeping Russia out of the Western Hemisphere.
In what amounts to classic European Union doublespeak, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Frederica Moghernini warned against U.S military intervention. She wants to settle Venezuela’s problems diplomatically, while its people starve and die of a lack of vital medicines. Trump and Pompeo want Maduro to open up humanitarian aid corridors, not block access to Venezuela. When Guaido and his band of activists failed to open up humanitarian aid corridors, Venezuela’s situation became more bleak. Maduro insists that the U.S. wants to topple his government and occupy Venezuela. He’s been telling Venezuelan citizens that the government thwarted a Yankee coup, when, in fact, Maduro stopped vital food and medicine. “We believe that no military development from outside of the country would be acceptable,” Mogherini said, discouraging the U.S. from any military intervention.
Showing that the U.N. has become a feckless debating society, they did nothing when Putin invaded Crimea March 1, 2014. Condemning Russia in the Security Council hasn’t returned Crimea to Ukraine, only made a bad situation worse. Now Mogherini urges in the strongest possible way to allow the U.N. to settle the Venezuela situation, something far more urgent than anything in Ukraine. “The crisis that affects the country has political and institutional causes, it’s not a natural disaster. It’s solution needs to be peaceful, political and democratic,” Mogherein said, knowing Maduro won’t surrender power unless it’s taken from him. No one at the U.N. has the resources to remove Maduro from Caracas. Like the situation with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, there’s little that can be done to get rid of the dictator, shorts of war. Guaido knows too many Venezuelans die daily while the U.N. debates.
