U.S. won’t appease leftist leaders in Latin America

National security adviser takes aim at Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua

Washington — The White House will no longer appease “dictators and despots” in Latin America, national security adviser John Bolton said in a Miami speech that welcomed new right-leaning leaders and put three leftist governments on notice.

Referring to Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua as the “troika of tyranny,” Bolton blamed them for causing “immense” human suffering and regional instability in the countries, and fostering communism in the region.

He called the leaders of those countries “clowns” and said the United States “looks forward to watching” their governments fall.

“These tyrants fancy themselves strongmen and revolutionaries, icons and luminaries,” Bolton said, according to remarks prepared for delivery. “In reality they are clownish, pitiful figures more akin to Larry, Curly and Moe. The ‘Three Stooges’ of socialism are true believers, but they worship a false God.”

Bolton delivered the aggressive speech to Cuban and Venezuelan expats at the Freedom Tower in Miami, while announcing that President Donald Trump had signed a new executive order that will allow sanctions against Venezuela’s gold industry, which Bolton said the Venezuelan government has used to finance criminal operations.

Bolton paid particular attention to Cuba’s role in Venezuela, stating that many in the audience have personally suffered “unspeakable horrors” by their homeland governments. They fought back and now their descendants can live the American Dream, he said.

Harkening back to President George W. Bush’s “axis of evil,” Bolton’s attacks on the three nations reflect an increasing aggression toward leftist autocrats that President Trump has touched on during international speeches to the United Nations and other international forums.

Trump’s supporters, who have long argued for a stronger position against Latin America, will likely praise the aggressive tone, but it may also heighten existing concerns that the United States is reviving a narrative promoted by leftist governments that the U.S. is the imperialist bully bent on punishing Latin American governments that don’t do its bidding.