Wednesday on talker Hugh Hewitt’s nationally syndicated radio show, National Security Advisor John Bolton addressed the problems the United States is facing around the globe, including in its backyard in South America with Venezuela.

Bolton emphasized the importance of the efforts underway to overthrow the Maduro regime and said a failure to do so could mean the failure of the Monroe Doctrine, as China and Russia could have influence over the beleaguered nation.

“This is a very, very important struggle that’s underway now for the people of Venezuela to overturn the Chavez-Maduro dictatorship,” Bolton said. “It’s also a strategic contest for the United States against Cuba, which has, by many estimates, over 20,000 security forces really running the government in Venezuela. Some people call the country Cubazuela. I don’t really think Maduro is giving orders. I think he’s taking orders from Havana. And what we’re trying to do is get key leaders in the military to do what 90% of the population of Venezuela already wants and help get this regime overthrown.”

“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” he continued. “People should understand Venezuela has the largest proven reserves of petroleum in the world, bigger than Saudi Arabia. They have one of the largest reserves of uranium in the ground of any country in the world, perhaps second only to Canada. Russia and China both have extremely high debt owed to them by the government of Venezuela, tens of billions, we think, in the case of Russia, somewhat less than that in the case of China. So if the Monroe Doctrine fails, if China and Russia establish along with Cuba establish domination over Venezuela, I think American strategic interests will be harmed. And as I said at the beginning, the people of Venezuela will be trapped in this dictatorship.”

The national security advisor tied the policies pursued by the previous administration to the turmoil in Venezuela, as well as other hot spots in the Western Hemisphere.

“We are seeing here the palpable proof of eight years of Obama administration policy mistakes,” Bolton added. “They let Chavez and Maduro entrench themselves. They let the Ortegas, the Sandinistas come back in Nicaragua. They reversed decades of policy on communist Cuba to our detriment. The problems we face in the Western Hemisphere today directly relate to ideological policies pursued by the Obama administration. So all these due bills are coming due. I’ll tell you, President Trump is determined not to see Venezuela fall under the sway of foreign powers.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor