By CE Marshall
Much in the news this week is the capture and arrest of the dictator, Maduro, of Venezuela. The Venezuelans of the world seem very happy about it and most of Latin America seems to be in agreement that this is a good thing. As I write he is sitting in a prison in New York awaiting trial for drug trafficking and other various offenses to humanity. We shall see what happens, of course, but the effect on the world political screenplay, as it were, is substantial.
When I awoke to the news that splashed across my cell phone, I shook my head and thought to myself "only Trump" because it is true that we have never had such an audacious President, certainly not in my lifetime. The left-leaning public is opposed to it as they are opposed to anything Donald Trump does. The far-left media - most mainstream media- is highly critical and clicking its tongues that "this action is outside of the law", their favorite line when something doesn't go their way or cannot be credited to one of their allies. Considering that Joe Biden had a $25 million dollar bounty on Maduro's head, this is abject hypocrisy (the heartbeat of liberal or statist ideals). It is a huge stretch to criticize the action too much, but the Democrats have nothing else to offer us these days but vitriol and sanctimony. "It was a superb success, but we don't like it because Trump is behind it" is what they really mean.
There is work to be done in Venezuela as the United States' powerful navy proceeds to choke Venezuela's only means of income, oil. This hurts the people, but the effectiveness of an embargo against an oppressive government is not clear in this case. We've been shutting out Cuba from most world trade for decades and all that has done has been to hurt the regular Cuban citizen. I hear rumors of starvation and no electricity through my Cuban-born wife. Cuba is in such bad shape even Trump has shrugged his shoulders that the country will probably fall within itself. This is the consequence of over sixty years of oppression and a government that has no concern but for itself, as do all Communist and most Socialist governments. The leaders of Cuba still trade and benefit by dealing with the Iran's and Hezbollah's of the world, but the people starve and suffer. Now that Venezuela can no longer help them and China is quite a distance away, it does not look good for the leadership of Cuba.
So, given that Maduro lost an election but refused to give up power, I see this as justice for the people of Venezuela. Establishing a strong Democratic Republic is not an easy thing when the people are weakened and starving by their own government, and Venezuela is still very much under the grip of oppression. But it is a good thing to try. Our country is established under a constitution that begins "We the People" and it was built on the foundation of Christian values that empower the individual to live free and be allowed to pursue happiness as God permits. May we proceed with the good fight to liberate Venezuela and all countries of the Western Hemisphere because it's the decent thing to do. Even if it's not totally "legal". Why should we help them? Consider it paying forward the favor done for us in our Revolution against Britain 250 years ago. France stepped up to help the United States, and we would not have won our independence but for our French allies. It is the right thing to do.
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