U.S. Sanctions Against Venezuela Are Wrong

Yesterday, the Trump administration announced sanctions against Venezuela. The sanctions would freeze any assets that Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has in the U.S. (although it is unclear if he has any), and would make it illegal for any American to do business with him.

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said:

"By sanctioning Maduro, the United States makes clear our opposition to the policies of his regime and our support for the people of Venezuela who seek to return their country to a full and prosperous democracy."

That's pure bullshit. Venezuela is a democracy, and Maduro is its duly elected president. And he was actually elected with a majority of the vote (unlike the current U.S. president).

The truth is that the United States has been upset with Venezuela since the country elected a socialist president (Hugo Chavez) who kicked American corporations out of the country and seized their properties for the benefit of the Venezuelan people. Maduro was elected after Chavez died, but continues his policies.

The U.S. has tried to reinstate the former right-wing capitalists, but failed -- and they continue to support those anti-democratic forces. This makes no real sense, since Venezuela poses no danger to the United States in any way. In addition, the U.S. currently supports much more authoritarian leaders in other countries (like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines), and doesn't seem to worry about the lack of democracy in those countries. We even send some of them foreign aid, and sell weapons to all of them.

We should stop picking on Venezuela. It's no business of ours who the Venezuelan people elect as their president, or what kind of government and economic system they prefer. We wouldn't stand for them trying to dictate to us, and we should show them the same courtesy by staying out of their internal affairs.