The great irony of every socialist, Communist, and Marxist-Leninist movement is that although the leaders (read: dictators) of such movements always rally the masses under the banner of “equality”…these political movements have led to the most unequal societies in modern history: we are seeing the culmination of this in Venezuela’s horrid two decade experiment with socialism in which a large percentage of the population is now starving, while Maduro and his political class (read: con artists) and military class (read: large-scale drug traffickers) have stashed away billions of dollars in offshore bank accounts and live a life of exquisite luxury.
Here in Colombia, we have had a front row seat to the Venezuelan debacle for 10 years.
Colombia, more than any other nation, has born the brunt of the complete ineptitude of Chavez and his loyal disciple Maduro. Political parties across the spectrum have used Maduro as a foil; have endeavored to present the Venezuelan debacle as a teachable moment: and they should.
Across the South America continent, voters are clearly listening to the message…from Colombia to Brazil, and from Argentina to Paraguay: if we vote for the left…they could turn this country into another Venezuela. Regardless of how fair it may be to compare Gustavo Petro, Cristina Kirchner, or Fernando Haddad to Hugo Chavez…the tactic is working.
Regardless of what you may read in the mainstream media, don’t forget that there is one ultimate cause of this human catastrophe: socialism.
It has never worked, it is not working now, and it will never work in the future. It has no mechanism for wealth creation; only a way for Marxist elites to steal from wealth creators (or drive them into exile as virtually every non-Chavista entrepreneur has done over the course of the past 20 years).
I don’t know if February will be the month that Maduro falls, but the signs are there…until this Communist dictator and his band of thieving criminals is gone we will never see and end to the great injustice that has been imposed upon 30 million people, turning a wealthy and prosperous nation into an utter political, social, and economic ruin.
Yet, Maduro still has powerful backers: Russia, China, Turkey, and Iran. Gustavo Petro, who won 42% of the vote in Colombia’s last presidential election, has come out swinging hard for Maduro. The “democratic socialist” contingent in the US Congress, consisting of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ro Khanna, and Rashida Tlaib, has also gone out of their way to stick up for Nicolas Maduro.
Ilhan Omar, a newly elected Congresswoman from Minnesota, has been particularly vociferous in her support for Maduro, while denouncing Guaido’s machinations as a “coup.”
Does she possibly not know that Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro perpetrated a bloody coup against the democratically-elected government of Carlos Andres Perez? A coup backed by Cuban intelligence services that resulted in the deaths of 143 people?
What percentage of the American public knows that Nicolas Maduro’s nephews (really his adopted sons) were caught shipping 800 kilograms of cocaine to the United States. Why were they doing this? There are recordings that demonstrate that the money was to be used to fund Maduro’s political campaigns.
How is it possible that people don’t know about this? There are still Democratic members of Congress that believe that Nicolas Maduro is the “president” of Venezuela, so he is owed some measure of respect. Nicolas Maduro is not the “president” of Venezuela. He is the drug trafficking dictator of Venezuela, who has never won a legitimate election.
Then there is the most tired and stale tripe of all: the “Yanquis” are coming to Venezuela to “steal” the oil. We have been Venezuela’s best oil customer for years. It is a matter of public record. Every economy in the world is interested in Venezuela’s oil. Of course they would be. Maracaibo has what is believed to be the world’s largest oil reserves. Are the Russians, Chinese, and Cubans coming to Venezuela out of the goodness of their heart? What are their interests in working with the Maduro regime?
Hearing the deep philosophical musings of a former Caracas bus driver? Or…would it be that they too want to get their hands on that Venezuelan oil?
Trump, the EU, and the vast majority of Latin American governments (minus Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Bolivia) are taking the right track here. Now is the time to ratchet up the diplomatic and economic pressure on Maduro, in a bid to drive him from power.
Now is the time to give control of Venezuela’s overseas assets to Guaido, until free and fair elections can be held.
Now is the time for the Venezuelan people to rise up against the Communist dictatorship that has stolen the dreams of 30 million people.
Source: Panamapost.com
