Venezuela has earned an unwanted distinction: the biggest crisis in the developing world. It’s title no one wants, but the competition is fierce. Civil wars, failed states, famine, terrorism, you name it, and still Venezuela manages to top the list. What recently thrust it back into the global spotlight wasn’t another report on starving children or another million people fleeing the country. It was the dramatic, very public removal of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilla Flores, who were snatched away in the night by United States Special Forces, taken across international borders, handed over to the DEA, and charged with narcoterrorism.
That moment didn’t create Venezuela’s disaster, but it certainly made it the current spectacle we’re now witnessing. Meanwhile, the country has been thrown into chaos as remnants of the regime have declared a state of emergency and are arresting farmers for celebrating what amounts to a pretty straightforward “don’t let the door hit you on the way out” moment.
What happened in Venezuela is a long time coming and is deeply complex. But here’s the quick version: in 2002, Hugo Chávez, a self-described Marxist, took control of Venezuela, a resource-rich country with one of the highest GDPs in South America at the time, and dismantled its democratic institutions, politicized the military, stole private property, nationalized the nation’s most profitable industries, and replaced any semblance of competent governance with a spoils system that rewarded his cronies. Upon Chávez’s death, Nicolás Maduro took control and somehow cleared the high bar of being worse than Chávez. The country’s elections became fraudulent, the court system became useless, the economy imploded, and basic necessities like food and medicine disappeared.
All of this led to the surprise operation that ousted current government. In the aftermath of this unprecedented action three main complaints have emerged: whether this was legal, whether the Maduros are really narcoterrorists, and, most bafflingly of all, if the Maduros are the victims of United States specials ops who are determined to hand Venezuela back to the oil companies.
First of all, no one should be asking, “Can President Trump do this legally?” The real question is: Who’s going to stop him? And the answer is… probably no one. Congress couldn’t do anything if their lives depended on it, and by the time they even try, we’ll all be dead and our grandkids will be debating this issue. The courts might step in (maybe?) but don’t hold your breath. And the UN? Don’t make me laugh. The UN exists so global bureaucrats can fool themselves into thinking they have some semblance of control. In reality, it’s the opposite. While I don’t always approve of the way the Trump Administration runs the executive branch like a Barnum & Bailey Circus, you have to give him credit here.
He knows that when it comes to foreign policy, he can basically do whatever he wants while Congress puts up little to no resistance. He wanted Maduro gone, and he did it. And at least he did something. People have been cajoling and negotiating with Maduro since he came to power. It isn’t working, and the Venezuelan people, despite their best efforts, have been unable to topple the combined power of Maduro and the military. People are complaining about international law, but tell me, how else could this have ended? Honestly, did anyone have a better idea that didn’t involve sitting in a circle at the UN and issuing another half-hearted condemnation?
We also shouldn’t sugarcoat the fact that Venezuela is a narco-state and both Nicolás and Cilla Maduro are by definition narcoterrorists. It’s odd to me that the Trump Administration insists on fixating over fentanyl, very little of which comes from Venezuela, and refuses to focus on cocaine, the widely known dangerous stimulant whose trafficking through Venezuela has made the Maduro family and the Venezuelan elite rich. Maduro runs what’s called the Cartel of the Suns, a drug trafficking ring with connections the Venezuelan military and political elite. Back in 2013, French authorities busted members of the network in one of the largest interception of illegal drugs to date when over 34 suitcases of cocaine were discovered at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport. In 2015, Cilla Flores’ son and nephew were arrested and convicted for after attempting to smuggle 800 kilos of cocaine into the United States. via Haiti. And that’s just a drop in the bucket. It is estimated roughly 250 tons of cocaine flow out of Venezuela every year, the vast majority of which ends up in the United States.
Another thing we have to make clear is that the only victims here are the millions of Venezuelans whose lives were destroyed by Maduro’s drug trafficking and authoritarian cruelty. Be happy for the people of Venezuela that this nightmare is finally over. Chávez and Maduro are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and forced almost 8 million people to flee their country. To the young adults who are politicized so much that you’re out there protesting for a dictator like Maduro, congratulations, you’ve unlocked a level of ignorant, privileged stupidity most of the world can only dream of. You’ve never known hunger, persecution, or the terror of watching your family and friends die or flee. You’ve never had to eat whatever scraps you can find just to survive. So please, sit this one out. And as for the accusation that the oil companies wanted this, of course they did! Most of the property stolen by Chávez was there’s. Let’s be honest, change usually doesn’t occur unless there is powerful backers and if that’s the oil companies in this situation, so be it.
At the end of the day, Venezuela didn’t fall overnight, and it won’t be fixed with think pieces or international hand-wringing. Decades of silence and inaction built the Venezuelan regime and finally, for better or for worse, someone did something. Maduro is gone, and for the millions who’ve lived in fear, hunger, and violence, that’s enough to hope again. History might argue over how it happened, but for Venezuelans, the nightmare has ended, or at the very least, has taken another form.
