by STANFIELD SMITH
Common Dreams, a liberal-left website, reposted an article by David Smilde of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA): Joe Biden Should Not Try to Out-Hawk Trump on Venezuela. It starts off well with the subtitle: “The first task for a Biden administration would be to take military intervention off the table.” The US has no business invading Venezuela. But Smilde’s approach is that the military option is ill-advised because there are more efficient ways of removing the Nicolás Maduro government.
Smilde criticizes the US unilateral sanctions as “doing more harm than good,” something of an understatement, and later says “sanctions pinch the Maduro government, they bludgeon the Venezuelan people.” This seems a departure from WOLA’s long-standing defense of these sanctions. In fact, Common Dreams has twice published open letters (here and here) criticizing Smilde and WOLA for not opposing Washington’s regime change effort in Venezuela.
Smilde’s article advises Biden that Trump’s strategy against Venezuela is counterproductive, that the US needs a better policy for removing Maduro. Smilde’s essay does not take into account that economic warfare against Venezuela originated when Biden was Vice President, and that Biden now attacks Trump for being soft on Venezuela.
To fact check Smilde’s three major criticisms of the Venezuelan government:
- “The Maduro government has presided over a governance disaster that has forced over 5 million Venezuelans to leave.” Smilde does not connect what he calls the increased “bludgeoning of the Venezuelan people” with increased emigration due to the economic hardship.
“While the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is undergoing a severe economic crisis, the Government is not standing idle; it is seeking international assistance to overcome the challenges, diversifying the economy and seeking debt restructuring. Sanctions only aggravate the situation by hindering the imports necessary to produce generic medicines and seeds to increase agricultural production. Sanctions have also led to emigration.”
Council on Hemispheric Affairs for more