“There is total chaos in Venezuela — hunger, lack of medicine, and latest, nearly the whole country had a blackout. But most of the conversation in the States focuses on what Trump is doing about Venezuela, and rumors are spreading that the U.S. is considering military intervention.” “All options are on.” “Hands off Venezuela! Hands off Venezuela!” “This movement on the American left against any U.S. involvement in Venezuela is gaining traction. We’ve got Noam Chomsky, Roger Waters, Oliver Stone, Boots Riley, Ilhan Omar, AOC, Jill Stein, and Bernie agreeing with them.” “Why have you stopped short of calling Maduro of Venezuela a dictator?” “Well — ” “And of course, we’ve got this lovely guy.” “Donald Trump, hands off Venezuela!” “It is not a good look when your slogan is co-opted by a tyrannical dictator. Now, Trump usually loves authoritarians, but this time it seems like it’s the liberals who are siding with one. Now, I am not a pro-Trump military hawk. For reference, my spirit animal is Ruth Bader Ginsburg in workout clothes. But this movement is dangerously glorifying a brutal dictator and promoting inaction. And that is the worst combination for ordinary Venezuelans. First off, if you look closely at these protests, it’s very unlikely you’ll bump into an actual Venezuelan.” “Where are you from?” “Where am I from?” “Yeah.” “Here.” “Here?” “Yeah.” “Where are you from?” “Philadelphia.” “Where are you from?” “No comment.” “Trust me, if this was an actual Venezuelan protest, it might look more like this. Second, let me remind you what’s going on back home. Inflation is at 2.69 million percent. Bolivars are so worthless, people are literally making origami out of them. Mass malnutrition and shortages of medicine have caused life expectancy to fall 3.5 years, and at least 3 million people have fled their country, causing a Syria-level refugee crisis. I mean, things are so bad, kidnappers have stopped kidnapping because people can’t pay ransom. Some pundits of the left claim Venezuela is in economic ruin because of U.S. sanctions, but they are wrong. Venezuela’s economy completely collapsed in 2016 after decades of corruption and incompetence of Chavez and Maduro’s nacro-kleptocratic governments. Until very recently, US sanctions were only travel bans and frozen bank accounts on specific government officials — like, for example, Chavez’s former bodyguard, who accepted over $1 billion in bribes, has three private jets, and owns more horses than a Revolutionary War battalion. One of them is named Tinkerbell. That has nothing to do with how corrupt this guy is, but I just found it fascinating. In January, the sanctions on the state oil company were designed to stop funding Maduro’s regime and their flamboyant watches. While Venezuela’s situation is a dumpster fire, hands off Venezuela advocates seem to be living on another planet.” “We just returned from two weeks in Venezuela, and we are happy to report that there is no humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.” “I’m sorry. What?” “Just the crisis of U.S. imperialism.” “It is true that the U.S.’s history of meddling in Latin America should give people pause. But complete inaction out of fear of the U.S. repeating its interventionist mistake from the ‘80s is not the answer. Hands off can actually mean blood on your hands. So what does American support look like? Supporting Venezuela’s efforts to restore democracy. The U.S. and 50 other countries recently recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the new interim president.” “Is this a coup d’état?” “Trained by the C.I.A.” “This is regime change number 68.” “Juan Guaido is not an American right-wing puppet leading an illegitimate coup, but a Social Democrat appointed by the National Assembly, the only remaining democratically elected institution left in Venezuela. Guaido’s job is to ensure free and fair elections, because news flash, the last election was not free or fair. Dictators aren’t really into that. The problem is Venezuela is being used to further polarize political agendas on both sides. Republicans are trying to drum up another Red Scare for their 2020 campaign.” “What it’s doing in Venezuela.” “That worked out so great in Venezuela.” “Look at Venezuela.” “America will never be a socialist country.” “While the left is using it to counter Trump, because it’s what you do. What unfortunately gets lost in the crossfire is the actual Venezuelan people, people who want a chance to live with electricity, food, jobs, schools, medicine and a vote that actually counts. If there’s one value liberal America appreciates, it’s human rights. So let’s stop this morally relativist, hands-off approach that is just a euphemism for inaction. Let’s provide humanitarian aid and support efforts to restore democracy and prioritize people’s rights to life, health and freedom.”