Because in socialism, food is always the weapon. And like any dictator, Maduro wanted the locals disarmed.

I've always known that Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro was bad. But never would I have imagined he'd stoop to what he did on Saturday, burning truckloads of U.S. aid as it entered Venezuela on Venezuelan trucks, as the poor screamed in despair and tried to rush into the burning vehicles to retrieve the food. The dictator was rubbing the hunger he himself created right in their faces.

These three tweets from a food aid group involved in the distribution of the desperately needed nutrition show the ugly picture:

UPDATE One of the humanitarian aid trucks has just been lit on fire on the Francisco de Paula Santander bridge between Colombia and Venezuela. Our WCK team is safe in Cúcuta and not on the bridge. #Venezuela #AyudaHumanitaria pic.twitter.com/ahsqn8lMZV — WorldCentralKitchen (@WCKitchen) February 23, 2019

Second humanitarian aid truck is now on fire as well. The truck has exploded. #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/t74mEaYKQd — WorldCentralKitchen (@WCKitchen) February 23, 2019

All aid trucks on the Francisco de Paula Santander bridge to Venezuela are now on fire — the cargo was able to be removed from the last truck and taken back across the bridge into Colombia. #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/ivzk2Ai9Db — WorldCentralKitchen (@WCKitchen) February 23, 2019

It's such a horrible picture, particularly when you learn the details of how the hungry poor rushed into the burning vehicles to try to save at least some of the American-provided food and other aid. I honestly didn't think he'd do this. He could have stopped the trucks at the border and not let them in. He could have expropriated them as contraband on some made-up pretension. He could have sent them to the bureaucratic 'inspectors' to rot, it's certainly been done with food imports in Venezuela in the past.

He didn't do any of that. He sent his thugs in to burn the trucks, as the starving eyes all around watched. They wanted that food aid. Instead of let them have it, Maduro burned it in front of their very eyes.

It shows a sadism that up until now has not been all that visible.

Maduro, after all is a failure, and that failure is directly linked to his socialism as well as being under the thumb of the Cubans, who have impoverished and disarmed their own country, yet who retain an Orwellian-level of state control. But most of the shambles of the Chavista regime in Venezuela have been attributed to third-world ignorance and incompetence. I know - I have spent time with the Bolivarians myself in Venezuela and can attest to the fourth-world stupidity of some. The reality now is that it's all intentional. The mask is off. And Maduro is actually doing a 'victory' dance over his great achievement - burning trucks full of aid for the starving. Here is the Bloomberg report:

But Saturday ended much as it began: Trucks of humanitarian aid donated by nations backing Guaido’s bid for power idled just outside the country and Maduro resumed taunting his rivals, crowing about victory back in Caracas. “I am stronger than ever,” the socialist strongman said in an impassioned and expletive-laden speech that whipped die-hard supporters into a frenzy. “Standing, ruling our homeland, for now, and for many years.”

Which is why Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's tweet about the vile spectacle is so appropriate:

We denounce Maduro’s refusal to let humanitarian assistance reach #Venezuela. What kind of a sick tyrant stops food from getting to hungry people? The images of burning trucks filled with aid are sickening. pic.twitter.com/bJ1Qsxkgx8 — Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) February 24, 2019

Presumably, the U.S. has more food. The New York Times has quite a good video on the aid effort, reporting that the U.S. has enough on the Colombia border to feed 100,000 for a day, which would mean more trucks (assuming they can be found) can try to get through. Military men are defecting, as Bloomberg reports.

But this demonstration of thuggery is quite serious. Acting President Juan Guaido now says " all options " to free Venezuela are now on the table and there's quite a bit of talk on Twitter and elsewhere that he may issue a call to the U.S. and its Latin allies to move to a military intervention.

Augmenting this, there are the reports that Venezuelan troops have shelled Colombia and injured Colombian nationals, which amounts to an attack on a U.S. ally right there, and gives Colombia the right to retaliate. There was violence and a Chavista massacre of Indians (4 dead now, more than 30 injured) at the Brazilian border over aid two days ago, something that could easily spill into military confrontation beyond Venezuela's southern frontier. And just as disturbing, Venezuela threatened to " open fire " on a U.S. ship full of aid coming in from Puerto Rico. The Puerto Ricans say they are taking the matter to the U.S.

With the military of Venezuela disintegrating and committing war crimes, as defections mount, one can see this not ending happily for Maduro, whose outrages are appalling.