IT’S TIME FOR A CARACAS COUP
THERE ARE NO GOOD OPTIONS LEFT IN VENEZUELA OTHER THAN OUSTING MADURO
Last week at a conference in Miami, the director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council, Juan Cruz, took aim at the regime of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.
Cruz cited part of the Venezuelan Constitution, drafted under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, that says the people “shall disown any regime, legislation or authority that violates the values, principles and democratic guarantees or encroaches upon human rights.” He was directing his comments at the Venezuelan military, imploring its members to honour their commitment to the Constitution.
As when Rex Tillerson made similar statements in February as secretary of state, Cruz’s critics said it was unwise for Washington to encourage a coup d’état.
But Cruz is merely facing facts. Maduro holds his power through the systematic violation of human rights and constitutional order, which has brought on an economic and social collapse and a refugee crisis that is affecting the whole continent. A regime steeped in corruption and narcotrafficking, whose violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in 2014 and 2017 left 200 dead and thousands injured, will never cede power voluntarily.
The status quo is unacceptable. Starting in 1999, Chávez and Maduro co-opted and destroyed the independent legislature and courts; looted oil revenue and the national treasury; caused the collapse of the petroleum sector; wrecked the private economy; choked off the supply of food and medicines; and induced the exodus of 10 per cent of the nation’s population.
Venezuela’s opposition-controlled National Assembly, the Organization of American States and the Group of Lima, made up of 14 regional governments, have condemned this appalling record.
President Trump has denounced Maduro and urged his counterparts in the region to take more concrete measures to press for change.
But the United States cannot lead from behind when it comes to confronting the Venezuelan cabal that is managed by Cuba, bankrolled by China, armed by Russia, and exploited by Iran, Hezbollah and Colombian narco-terrorists. If the United States regards Maduro’s government as an illegitimate, criminal regime that threatens regional stability it should act accordingly.
While the Treasury Department has applied targeted sanctions against Maduro, Vice-President Tareck El Aissami and dozens of other senior officials implicated in human rights abuses and corruption, sanctions are no substitute for proactive engagement.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should empower a new team of American diplomats to make the case for change in Venezuela.
The United States should break off diplomatic relations with Caracas and recognize members of the democratically elected National Assembly as the only legitimate representatives of the Venezuelan people.
Washington should reveal the results of prolonged criminal investigations into El Aissami, who is suspected of narcotics trafficking and having ties to terrorism, and into Diosdado Cabello, a top regime official suspected of running a cocaine cartel with Venezuelan military officers. Issuing or unsealing indictments in such cases will help to expose the dangerous narco-state in Caracas.
To hasten a transition, neighbouring democracies should provide moral and material support to the democratic opposition in Venezuela. The United States, the OAS, and regional leaders from the Group of Lima should uphold a decision last week by Venezuela’s Supreme Court in exile, a body of jurists appointed by the National Assembly, that suspended Maduro from the presidency for corruption.
In keeping with that judgment, the Assembly should demand that members of the military comply with their constitutional duty to restore democratic order. And officers should be assured that if they move to oust Maduro, their families and futures will be safeguarded, and the armed forces will be restored as an apolitical, professional institution.
And to ensure that power will be passed promptly to legitimate civilian authorities, members of the Assembly should establish a process for designating an interim successor to Maduro. They also should form an impartial electoral council to plan and conduct free and fair presidential elections under international supervision.
Finally, Venezuela’s democratic leaders should plan for receiving and distributing humanitarian assistance and reactivating social services. They must develop strategies for jump-starting and sustaining the recovery of the private economy. Transitional leaders should start a global effort to locate and claim billions of dollars looted from the Venezuelan people by corrupt officials.
If the military were to depose Maduro tomorrow, the Venezuelan people would likely regard it as a rescue mission more than a coup. Even within the military, regime insiders have told me, no more than 20 per cent of the soldiers, whose own families are suffering from hunger and repression, would defend Maduro.
President Trump’s team has an extraordinary opportunity in Venezuela to take the lead to advance democratic values, defend American security, and confront narco-trafficking through a strategy that could unite America’s political parties and most of our American neighbours. It is a tough challenge, but well worth the effort.
VENEZUELANS WOULD LIKELY REGARD IT AS A RESCUE MISSION.