As the Crisis in Venezuela Grows, the Options Narrow

I see a blueprint for the transfer of power from trump to whoever untrumps him. Blackouts. Food shortages. Gas lines. Derelict hospitals. After he's run the country into the ground, ich bin ein Venezuelan.

How about a bay of pigs or a Chile solution when we put a real gentleman in power. What `s wrong with The Monroe Doctrine anyway - it has worked for a hundred years. Now that we have Brazil on our side the rest will be relatively easy. Mr. Bolton - that great liberal gentleman - knows what he is doing. Our economical embargo has caused a "humanitarian disaster" but not yet on the scale of Vietnam or Iraq - we need to apply more military pressure in order to "spread democracy".

It's really hilarious watching trump the Bully against Putin the Master Bully. Reminds me of the trump baby balloon.

Maybe, like Vietnam today, start a garment industry before we send in the Marines?

How quickly the supposedly liberal media fall in line with the most reactionary warmongers like Bolton and Rubio when the world's largest oil reserves are at stake! . . . . Against the people of Venezuela, the US has paid for mobs of right wing street thugs, cut off vital medicine and food supplies, stolen billions of their financial assets (Citgo, London gold), attempted to assassinate the elected President and install a puppet leader, cyber attacked the electrical grid--and everything has failed. The national armed forces remain loyal to the Revolution--And the brave people of Venezuela support the government they elected, not one imposed by foreigners. . . . Guaido is Pinochet lite. Where he put in power by the US, thousands of leftist activists would be killed and the poor and working class would be crushed. Is this what American liberals want? . . . All Americans of conscience must oppose Trump's murderous military adventure in Venezuela!

I guess I'm confused here. I thought Trump and Putin were besties. Why can't Trump just bat his blood shot eyes and say, "Pootie, please step out of Venezuela until we've squeezed it for every dram of oil it's worth. I'll split the lucre with you once it's over."

The anointed President Guaido only represents one of several opposition parties in Venezuela. There are others and they represent far more voters than Guaido. But by fixating on him and his very slick media presence the media and the policy makers in Washington have opted for the most confrontational and least democratic option. The Venezuelan constitution provides for a referendum in between scheduled presidential elections. Other opposition parties and some OAS members have urged the US to support a referendum calling for early elections, but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears. US military and financial might could force Guaido the puppet into office, but in doing so it would send the message to all of Latin American that we are up to our old, very undemocratic malicious ways. After the coups in Chile and Argentina, the Contra Wars and our secret war in Columbia, the entire hemisphere is sick of US meddling and our CIA interventions. Chavez had to face a national referendum and based on the Carter Center did so with free and fair elections. The US has to decide whether we stand for democratic practices or secret plots and schemes to control Venezuelan oil. The American people also need to know what our values are and how we plan to stand behind them. So far our conduct harkens back to the days of the Ugly American. We can and must do better than that. Support a referendum and let the Venezuelan people decide their fate.

I'd like to know which of the Chavez/Maduro economic policies the Editorial Board opposes. The universal healthcare? The generous public housing? The subsidized food and gasoline for the poor? The steeply progressive taxation? The soaking of the rich? Sounds like an Editorial Board utopia, right down to Venezuela's national cure for obesity. Maybe someday the US will adopt Elizabeth Warren's version of Chavismo and we can all experience the pleasure of hunting cats for dinner.

April 4, 2019 The people of Venezuela know exactly what must happen and that is to yield to the decency of the voice of its people that accepts its leader Juan Guaido. Any violation to reject Juan Guaido is being monitored by the world press, and with full transparency the actions will be held to justice should this transition of power not be given fair and proper rational that a people’s voice not to be usurped with impunity. JJA Manhattan, N.Y.

"But a military intervention in a country bigger than Texas would be ugly, even if Russia did not get further involved, and nearly all the other nations backing Mr. Guaidó firmly opposed one." ___ Ask Gov. Abbott to send in a large battalion of Texas Rangers to resolve the matter. It'd be over in no time. Texas, like a whole 'nother country.

If only foreign governments took their orders from the Times editorial board! The same editorial board which celebrated the short-lived 2002 coup which "everyone" -- except, inconveniently, the Venezuelan people -- supported. So what if poverty and hunger took a plunge under Chavez, quite unlike the previous few hundred years of white oligarchic rule and perpetual serfdom for the indigenous peoples? Don't they know that what we say goes?

Or maybe, Venezuela will become South America's North Korea!

Venezuela is a beautiful country with beautiful beaches, Andes mountains, the Orinoco river, with unique animal life and plants. It has the potential to be a totally stable economic country. What prevents Venezuela from being a great country is the red communist government it has. Please don’t be nice and call Venezuela a socialist country. Those living in the capital of Caracas even have a problem buying daily toilet articles, bath soap, even food. Even children are dying from hunger. Our country must learn from the fractures of Venezuela, WWII German Nazi empire, the Roman empire, and the Greek empire and other countries where the people gave too much power to their central government, and latter regretted their action but could do nothing to reverse their horrible future. Total freedom to do whatever you want is a fictitious crystal ball dream. Nothing is free, not even freedom. Everything has a price to pay.

You ask for reader's comment, but then you censor comments that don't fit into your political views. Welcome to the world of 'Free Press'. Your hypocrisy does a disservice to the concept of the First Amendment.

We move troops into Poland, they move troops into Venezuela.

The situation in Venezuela is dire. The problem is that the Venezuelan military is an integral part of the cleptocracy running the country. So it is doubtful they will turn against themselves to free the country. So no good options left for Venezuela..

It concerns me no mention of the fact that Maduro's "government" is a Narcoterrorist regime. Its state infrastructure is being used as an operational haven by the Cartel de los Soles, the largest narcotics org in hemisphere, providing planes, strips and routes through and from Venezuela to the western world. Tons of cocaine are going to US and smaller Mexican cartels consistently an unhindered! The large amounts of cash from this are being "reinvested" in maintaining the Regime in power and Terrorist Groups operating in the country and out of it.. International Drug Trafficking & Terrorism, unhindered and at a very large scale... hmm! The two highest threats to Civilization as we know it.. right next door. Not doing anything about containment is NOT an option. Right?

Trump chooses personal interaction with other despots, but why not Maduro? What is the point of the US policy toward Venezuela? Is it purely regime change, or punishment for nationalizing some industries 20 years ago? Why can't we let the Venezuelan people decide their own fate? These sanctions are out of step - they are only hurting the people of Venezuela. The Venezuelan people only come to view the US as untrustworthy and trying to control their voting choices through use of these sanctions. Sure the last election was probably rigged, but so are plenty of others. Let the Venezuelan people be the drivers of their own destiny. Stop these sanctions, stop these warnings and bluster, and stop escalating the situation. Washington policy has brought the Russian military advisors.

The editorial Board should be ashamed of this position paper. Mr. Guaidó came out of nowhere. He is the leader of a party that has 4 seats in the National Assembly. That National Assembly is nothing like the US equivalent, which has two parties. In Venezuela there are multiple parties and that opposition is perpetually divided amongst itself. Guaidó only became a force of the scene when he was asked by VP Pence to self-declarehimself president. Guaidó did not do this in the National Assembly, but during a street demonstration. Surrounded by the Columbian military, he then called on the United States military to back up his "presidency." Step back a number of months: Guaidó was elected under exactly the same electoral rules as Maduro. Sorry, NYT. Venezuela, like it or not, has only one president, Guaidó is a pretender. Name another country, please, where a bona-fide patriot calls for outside military intervention and remains a free man. More: Guaidó's group refused the EU request to assist in a negotiated settlement and also refused an offer from Mexico and Ecuador to assist in a negotiated settlement. Add these factors together and we see a man who is something of front for certain American politicians who are slobbering for control of the largest oil reserves in the world. How is it that every time the US overthrows a regime in the world, the end results are worse that the previous horror?

In 11 days the US government will once again pick my pocket at the same time US corporations that are making BILLIONS in profits will pay ZERO in taxes. Paying for the US to overthrow the Venezuelan government so that US corporations can steal the country's resources and run away with the profits is not how I want my tax dollars to be used.

"It is terrible to witness the suffering of a nation for no reason other than the criminal obduracy of a corrupt clique." I'm going to go ahead and guess that you are referring to US sanctions (criminal obduracy) implemented on behalf of international capital (corrupt clique) in order to facilitate raping Venezuela of her natural resources (oil).

There is a solution but still nobody has mentioned it in the mainstream media nor among politicians. I say as Axel Oxenstierna did in 1648, "If you only knew, my son, with how little wisdom the world is run".

Of course Putin does not want either Maduro or Guaido to prevail: he wants the stalemate to continue indefinitely so that the United States looks powerless.

Venezuela will always be a basket case until it rids itself of socialism. The People have rejected socialism but the ruling elite who get rich off socialism at the expense of the People bitterly cling to failed socialism

How come every article about Maduro states that he inherited the bad economy from Chavez. It was after Chaves' death that the Venezuelan economy began its severe downfall. I traveled to Venezuela back in 2006 at the height of Chaves' regime. I saw hospitals and schools being built. Elderly people were learning to read and write for the first time. Yes he could be authoritative, but he lifted millions out of extreme poverty. I am sure Chavez is turning over in his grave that his dream for Venezuela has turned into a nightmare. He never would have let Venezuela be in the dire straits that it is in today.

This was not a well thought out editorial. Maduro, like Chavez, has been elected several times. You may say that the elections were not valid but how is that any different than in the South were Blacks are kept from voting. Here in Florida Al Gore and Hilary would have been elected had felons had their voting rights restored. Is Maduro caging up people at his border, is he building a wall? In the 20’s and 30’s the US repeatedly sent the Marines into Central America in the interests of the United Fruit Company (Chiquita) now we are going to do it in the interests of Citgo. We have given Russia an opening in this hemisphere and we know Trump will not do anything against Putin’s interests.

Lets come right out and say it. The US is not willing to shed the blood any of it's own soldiers to liberate the civilians in Venezuela because there is a political stalemate in the US that seeks to weaponize any risky foreign policy moves for 2020. For all his talk, Trump has revealed that at his core, he is hard-line non-interventionist. His conviction for non-intervention may be arising from a balance sheet of costs and benefits in stark dollar terms, but it is very clear he doesn't like "stupid wars" as he puts it. Still, there's ways to block other countries from adventures in the americas. Putin's intervention in Venezuela should be addressed with heavier weapons for Russia's neighbors, and Putin must understand that if he does not let Venezuelans decide their own future, then he will pay a heavy price in his own backyard. It doesn't look like if Maduro calls on the troops to commit atrocities, they will still listen, nor has the generals said they will do such a thing. When Maduro finally runs out of means to pay for his armed protection, his protection will melt away and join the people. It might take time, but unless they start killing their own civilians, there is no reason to charge in there. Even if a massacre was started, the best way to address this is with troops from the immediate neighbors with some air support, perhaps limited special forces, and not with large number of US tanks or boots.

Unfortunately, in order to get rid of Maduro, there needs to be blood in the streets. He will not just leave and give up the throne, especially with the support of Russia and China. I know blood has already poured and innocent civilians have died. These peaceful protests and marches do nothing and Maduro will remain in power. It’s naive to think 1) U.S. military will intervene and uproot Maduro and 2) Maduro will just leave quietly. To my dismay, this looks like a stalemate with no light at the end of the tunnel.

The bottom line is that our malevolent opponents in Russia, China, and Cuba want the malignant regime in Caracas to survive at any cost because they know it will be a strategic threat to the United States. That simply cannot be permitted.

Why is it we can find $Millions in aid for a country that hates us, yet will not send the aid our own citizens need in Puerto Rico?

It is also possible that things in Venezuela could get worse and worse, and they could end up like Somalia, a lawless state with no government. This would result in most of the population gradually leaving, since unlike Cuba they are not an island.

Did allies wait until the prisoners reveal at the concentration camp to act? You cannot expect kidnaped people to rescue themselves, you cannot wait until the numbers of executed prisoners is large enough (it is already large). An intervention in Venezuela is more than justified, it is a shame than the rest of the free World does not see it. Remember the holocaust, many believed that it won’t affect them until it was too late.

Trump needs the Venezuela issue to continue his attacks on our "socialist" democratic party. How can he continue to aid Venezuela and limit aid to Puerto Rico?

The best way to look at the Venezuela Op is: why do Syria again? Syria is pretty much what we might call a Bay of Pigs situation that continued for years. We really need to look at the state of play there objectively. We could start with "50 nations support" the 'interim/temporary/whatchacallit' "president". How many nations are there? And how ridiculous is a scenario, against any Constitutional democratic system, of a tale that would be like Ms Pelosi declaring that Trump & Pence were not legal and swore herself in as CinC? With all that has happened odds are most down there see Mr G as our intended puppet now (& he IS). The survival of Maduro is much like Assad, due not to a circle of corrupt generals, but to Colonels, Capts, Lts, Sgts, and Pvts, along with a major tranche of the population. Leaving the $ pale, with a product for sale that much the world needs, (& becoming an emporia for CVhina's products) the Gov of Venezuela has the means to get food, meds, material in the long term. The panic currency collapse will fade. A successful recovery reinforces the Government. "Monroe Doctrine". Seems colonial, no? It is all about the oil, why do we need it? There is the necessary Q. Last, Cuba 62. Russia can project what it needs. &, no, Moscow got what it wanted then there in '62. Hands off, all the way to today...

Russia wins, we and the people of Venezuela loss.

I hope the Times Editorial Board fully realizes that with this editorial it is aligning itself with the malignant foreign policy decisions of Trump, Bolton, and Pompeo, two of whom, Trump and Bolton, have boldly proclaimed their desire to take control of Venezuela's vast oil reserves on behalf of American oil company interests.

The Venezuelan crisis may very well have been on the way to resolution by now if only Trump and his fellow goons had kept their war-mongering mouths shut and stayed out of the conflict. But the prospect of all that juicy oil lubricated their greedy jaws.

If the US wants to invoke the Monroe Doctrine, why shouldn't Russia invoke the Putin Doctrine, that would give Russia open access to all of Europe. Here it is a Ukraine for a Venezuela. Fair? Maduro will soon fail by natural causes. They don't need the CIA to interve and mess it up again like in Ossetia, Syria, Libya etc.

OAC and Bernie are right. No more US intervention or meddling. As Sanders said in 2011, Socialist ruled Venezuela is a more suitable exemplar of the American dream than the United States. Sanders correctly pointed out incomes in Venezuela are actually more equal than in the United States.

The problem with this piece isn't the conclusion, but its one-sided and often misleading statements. Along with the rest of the media, there is a drumbeat for conflict no more odious than the reporting leading up to the Iraq war. You didn't need to be pro-Saddam then to know propaganda in support of a belligerent government (our own) is not what our fourth estate should be doing. We need objective reporting with full context of the results of our past interventions.

The US needs to be prepared for what will happen when Venezuelans eventually march on Miraflores, because it will happen. Maduro has already demonstrated that negotiations with him are just a tool to prevent change. He knows his support is at or under 20% of the population. Democracy was fine when it allowed the Chavismo a nearly unfettered ability to enact its agenda, but as soon as the popular vote swept them out of power in 2015, they clamped down on it, took away the powers of the NA, the Supreme Court, and opposing political candidates.

The Times editorial board is wisely adopting a more cautious tone than in 2002, when it welcomed a US-backed coup that failed in the face of mass opposition. Why has the present coup failed to produce the desired results? Quite simply because the majority of Venezuelans, however much they may dislike the government of Nicolas Maduro, do not want to be ruled by a regime imposed by Washington. The Times' claim that all that has to be done is for the armed forces to oust Maduro and install the US -backed "interim president" and the world "will pitch in" to better Venezuelans' lives is not borne out by previous US regime change operations. Libya provides a good object lesson on this score.

When I read the title of this piece I feared the Editorial Board might suggest that U.S. military intervention maybe necessary as a last resort. I’m relieved and agree with their conclusion. We’ve been waging wars in multiple countries for 17 consecutive years relying primarily on bombing with little gain to show for given all the civilian deaths and physical destruction we have left in our wake. Too many of our soldiers have been killed, permanently wounded or disfigured or have suffered from PTSD fighting for a failed policy. We cannot get involved in another war. It’s time to resurrect a slogan from the Vietnam War era: “Give peace a chance.” Let’s engage in a concerted effort to resolve violent internal clashes in other countries by diplomacy.

Yes. And the Venezuelans have one thing going for them, which places like Afghanistan do not have. They have resources, i.e., oil, which can help the nation recover from this devastation. It is impossible to know what will happen in the short term, but it seems to me that military intervention would be exceedingly unwise. Let's hope that Mr. Trump's ego doesn't drive him down that road or, at lease, that he has the sense to listen to those with experience with and long memory about US-Latin America relationships.

America's aggression against Venezuela is unprecedented: stealing its companies and its gold, sabotaging its electricity system (admitted by both Guaido and Rubio) and organizing terrorist attacks. Once the US was the pillar of the world order. Now it is turning the world into a Darwinian dystopia where only the right of the strongest counts. This has to stop. Venezuela is a divided country. Maduro may be incompetent, but he represents the majority of the population and their interests. Guaido on the other hand primarily represents the old elite: a minority that can only acquire power either by coopting other segments of the population or foreign powers. It is doing the latter now.

Bernie Sanders was deprived of the nomination to the presidential candidacy for the Democrats through undemocratic manipulations and shenanigans by the DNC. Otherwise he would most probably had been US president by now. As a progressive I may deplore today's situation and I may believe it affects the entire world. But is the internal function - or dysfunction - of US democracy any of my business? Of course not, I'm not a US citizen.

"As the Crisis in Venezuela Grows, the Options Narrow Russian military advisers are on the ground, and American officials are issuing threats. Now what?" "The reality is that Mr. Trump has no real option but to wait." Which seems to me to be exactly what he is doing. So your point is? "But the last act in this tragedy can only be performed by the Venezuelans, knowing that the sooner they and their armed forces evict the thieves, the sooner the world will pitch in to help them recover their lives." I see the point: only after the Venezuelans actually start the revolt (armed and violent I assume, as you include the armed forces among those to revolt) will the world pitch in to "help them recover their lives". At what state of the revolt is that? Or is it only after? Sorry, editorial board, but I see neither logic nor a viable solution here in your editorial. The only point seems to be criticism of the verbiage of Mr. Trump, but not on his lack of follow-through with which you seemingly agree.