Authoritarian
President Donald Trump is widely known to have open disdain for
democracy while also completely lacking any type of moral compass.
Unfortunately, Trump is true to form in his policy on Venezuela in
that it is undemocratic, illegal and immoral. The Trump
administration’s backing of a coup in Venezuela is an attack on the
Latin American country’s constitution and also a violation of
international law. Additionally, the Trump Administration’s
sanctions are causing widespread suffering for everyday Venezuelans.
Juan
Guiadó’s undemocratic power grab
Trump
is backing opposition leader Juan Guiadó’s self-appointment as
Venezuela’s interim President, a blatant violation of Venezuela’s
constitution. Guiado’s claim to legitimacy is based upon an absurd
interpretation of Article 233 of Venezuela’s constitution.
Article 233 states that the President of the National Assembly shall
become the interim President if the democratically elected President
abandons his or her office. Guiadó, who is President of the National
Assembly of Venezuela, claims that since he himself believes the
democratic election of President Nicolás Maduro was somehow
fraudulent he now has the legal authority to claim the position of
interim President.
Of
course Guiadó’s claim is completely ridiculous given that he
unilaterally determined he had the authority to decide that Maduro’s
election was fraudulent without any official determination of any
type of Venezuelan governing body or the United Nations (U.N.).
Guiadó could have gained the backing of the U.N. when Maduro
requested to have U.N. election observers verify there was no
electoral fraud in the election of 2018. Instead, Guiadó requested
that the U.N. not send observers because he knew observers would not
find election fraud.
Trump
proactively plots illegal coup
Despite
the obviously dubious nature of Guiadó’s reasoning for appointing
himself interim President of Venezuela, the Trump Administration
accepts
Guiadó’s claim to power as legitimate. However, Trump is not just
simply standing by and passively observing, but is proactively
assisting in Guiadó’s illegal coup attempt. In fact, beginning in
Fall 2017 the Trump Administration started meeting
secretly with Venezuelan military officers who were actively plotting
to overthrow the Maduro government. Around this same time in August
2017, the Trump Administration levied sanctions
on Venezuela, cutting the country off from most of its ability to
borrow money it needs to govern and maintain basic needs.
Then,
leading up to Guiadó’s announcement of his self-appointment as
interim President, the Trump Administration had been meeting
with Guiadó, other opposition leaders and allies for several weeks
as they plotted how to overtake the democratically elected Maduro
government. This culminated in U.S. Vice President Mike Pence
pledging to support Guiadó in his coup attempt. Then shortly after
the announcement in January 2019, Trump levied additional sanctions
on Venezuela in February 2019. The sanctions are aimed at preventing
Venezuela from exporting oil, the country’s main export.
Trump’s
sanctions are further crippling Venezuela’s economy while it faces
food shortages, severe power outages and extreme hyperinflation. It
is clear that Trump is purposely creating social unrest via economic
sanctions as part of a plot to provoke the Venezuelan people to rebel
against the Maduro administration and eventually force Maduro to step
down.
U.S.-backed
coup violates international law
Not
only is Trump’s coup attempt a violation of the Venezuelan
Constitution, it is also breaking international law. Trump has also
threatened
to use military force in order to oust Maduro. This is a clear
violation of the the U.N. Charter, of which the US is a signatory.
Article
2, Section 4 of the Charter
states, “All Members shall refrain in their international relations
from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or
political independence of any state, or in any other manner
inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.” In other
words, just merely threatening the use of force by a nation to oust a
legitimate government of another nation is illegal. Clearly, this is
exactly what the Trump Administration is doing.
Immoral
Trump sanctions create massive human suffering
Aside
from being illegal in numerous ways, Trump’s sanctions on
Venezuela are exacerbating an already-existent catastrophic
humanitarian crisis. Venezuela is currently experiencing food
shortages and constant power outages due to various factors,
including mismanagement by the Maduro government and macroeconomic
factors related to the oil markets. However, U.S. sanctions are only
worsening the suffering of the Venezuelan people in an attempt to
gain access to Venezuela’s rich oil resources on the behalf of
American corporate
interests.
The
Trump Administration, Guiadó, opposition leaders and imperialist
allies would argue that Maduro is at fault for not allowing
“humanitarian aid” to enter the country to help alleviate the
food shortage crisis which U.S. sanctions are purposely exacerbating.
However, many critics, including the Red
Cross and the U.N. are opposed
to the U.S. and Guiadó using the excuse of sending humanitarian aid
as a political and military tool to further the coup agenda. Critics
believe that the food aid is merely
an excuse for opposition and
imperialist forces to enter the country in order to gain strategic
military advantages to overthrow the democratically elected
government by force. Of course, this not an irrational fear,
considering that American imperialist actions have historically
wreaked havoc and serious suffering onto the people of various Latin
American countries for decades.
Meanwhile,
if the Trump Administration and Guiadó were actually serious about
alleviating human suffering in Venezuela they would not ratchet up
sanctions and embargo efforts. In fact a U.N. Special Rapporteur has
publicly
warned the recent Trump
sanctions will cause “starvation and medical shortages” while
urging all nations to avoid levying sanctions on other countries
“unless approved by the United Nations Security Council, as
required by the U.N. Charter.” Politicians in America and elsewhere
who claim to support democratic ideals should openly condemn the
Trump coup agenda in Venezuela as well as oppose Guiadó’s
fraudulent claim to the Venezuelan presidency.
