Left-wing members of our Congress are aping Russia — in supporting the Marxist dictator of Venezuela. The authoritarian regimes in Russia, Iran, and China support Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro. Maduro is also supported by some liberal members of Congress like Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Cal.).
By contrast, the Trump administration — like France, England, Canada, and Venezuela’s neighbors, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru — recognizes an opposition leader, the Social Democrat Juan Guaido, as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, pursuant to the provisions of Venezuela’s Constitution. The Trump administration is taking the exact opposite position from Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Venezuela.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) claims that Guaido is a “far right” figure because he opposes the Maduro dictatorship. But Guaido’s party is anything but right-wing: indeed, it is part of the Socialist International. The fact that Guaido, unlike the dictator Maduro, is not an authoritarian Marxist, is a good thing.
France is not exactly a far-right country. And it, like the Trump administration, recognizes Guaido as the legitimate Venezuelan head-of-state. As France24 reported, “European nations joined the United States in recognising opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president on Monday. … The European Union members’ coordinated move followed the expiry of an ultimatum for Maduro to call a new election and aligned them with Washington against Russia.”
Venezuela’s Marxist regime has presided over the economic collapse of that country, despite oil prices being higher than they were in 1999 when the Left took power in that country. Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro has presided over widespread malnutrition, torture, and disappearances, that have driven over two million Venezuelans to flee the country. As “Venezuela collapses, children are dying of hunger,” noted the New York Times. As El Pais reported a year ago, “The majority” of Venezuelans “have lost weight and are going to bed hungry. Around 64.3% of people surveyed said they had lost 11 kilograms [24 pounds] in 2017. ”
In The Hill today is an article by John Solomon titled “The Case for Russia Collusion — Against the Democrats.” It argues that the Clintons collaborated with Russia, and that the “collaboration occurred at the exact same time Bill Clinton made his now infamous trip to Russia to pick up a jaw-dropping $500,000 check for a single speech.” Solomon also says that “both the House and Senate investigative committees have cleared Donald Trump of Democrat-inspired allegations of Russian collusion.”
