When to carry out what Vladimir Putin What I would call a special military operation, the Americans have forces that are among the most capable in the world. They showed it a week ago in Venezuela. With robotic efficiency, they brought out Nicolas Maduro and his wife from their hiding place in a supposedly impregnable military base to transfer them to a smelly New York prison. They also destroyed the dictator’s Cuban praetorian guard, thus killing Havana a demoralizing blow since the men of the American Delta Forcewho reportedly barely suffered a scratch, They killed 32 Cuban troops that, according to the regime of Miguel Diaz-Canel“they fell after stiff resistance in direct combat against the attackers or as a result of bombing.”
On the other hand, when it comes to administering other people’s territories, Americans tend to stand out for their ineptitude. Unlike the imperialists of yesteryear, they insist on minimizing the importance of cultural differences; They take for granted that everyone wants the same things they do, starting with democracy, an attitude that, like many critics of what has just been done, donald trump in Caracas were quick to remind us, it would have catastrophic consequences on Afghanistan and Iraq.
Well, it would seem that trumpadvised by the Secretary of State Marco Rubiodoes not intend to repeat the errors perpetrated by predecessors who ended up bogging down the armed forces of their country in exotic swamps from which it would be impossible for them to extract themselves with their dignity intact. Although trump He said the United States will “handle” Venezuela For a while, he surprised many by entrusting the transition he has in mind to elements of the decapitated Chavista regime led by the interim president. Delcy Rodrigueza communist with a technocratic profile who, in order not to suffer a fate even worse than that expected by her former boss Ripeyou will have to behave like a duly obedient puppet.
Will you be willing to do it Delcy Rodriguez? We will see. Although the idea of forcing the Chavistas to prepare for a democratic solution to the country that they have ruined, impoverishing it and pushing at least into exile, is not unattractive. eight million peopleit would be really amazing if Diosdado Hair and other hierarchs will try to do it.
For reasons that will have more to do with his own vanity than with a dispassionate analysis of the problems that a new government would face, trump ruled out the alternative of allowing Edmundo González Urrutiathe winner of the elections last julytook over as president. Although trump will know that, if it had not been for a Chavista ucase, he would have triumphed by a very wide margin in said elections Maria Corina Machadothe woman who, to her annoyance, received the Nobel Peace Prizechose to snub her; displaying the meanness that characterizes him, he stated that in Venezuela very few respect her.
Still, he’s not wrong. Blondwho has always treated Corina Machado politely, when he points out that, for now, the Venezuelan democratic opposition is far from being in a position to govern the country since “we have short-term issues that must be addressed immediately.” Among such issues is the urgent need to disarm many thousands of Chavista thugs, starting with “the collectives,” separate from power the drug trafficking cartels that are part of the regime, and put an end to the activities of large groups of jihadists, such as those of Hezbollah and Hamaswho settled years ago in Venezuelain addition to expelling a notable amount of Cuban agents.
There is no guarantee that Delcy Rodriguez is willing to fulfill the role trump would like to grant him or that, if he accepted it, he would manage to obtain the help of pragmatic soldiers inclined to put their own future before that of the grotesque Bolivarian cause. Nor is there any belief that in such a case the interim president would be able to dismantle the mafia structures that have done so much damage to her country and that, for a long time, will continue to pose a serious hemispheric threat.
In any case, as things stand, it would be fanciful to assume that a democratic government led by moderate centrists like Gonzalez either Corina Machado unless they had the active support of a large number of american military. Thus, no matter how hurtful the words of trumpthey have not harmed them; In the long run, it would not be in their interest to appear as employees of a foreign power.
Judging by what they say trump and those around him, the North American government is betting that the military and others who until yesterday made up the Chavista elite will turn out to be vocational officials and that, once convinced that from now on it would be in their best interest to be “loyal” to USAthey will try to serve their new masters well. However, it is more than likely that the experiment will fail and that Americans will be forced to put “boots on the ground” and “manage.” Venezuela like a colony.
Fortunately for the Americans, the country that trump wants to sponsor is not at all similar to Afghanistan and Iraq. In general terms, Venezuelans share the same culture as approximately 70 million Latinos or Hispanics who constitute the first American minority. To put it more simply, the mere fact that Blondwhich after trump He is the most powerful and influential member of the North American government, he is as Latin as any Venezuelan, it gives him advantages that the proconsuls of Venezuela did not have. USA in it Middle East.
Be that as it may, the challenges facing Venezuela today they are more formidable than those that, in 1983had to overcome the Argentina to recover democracy after the war Falklandsthey anticipated that it would be easy for them to adapt again to the return to power of civilian politicians; Had we known that not only a handful of generals, admirals and brigadiers, but also many others, would be tried and imprisoned for crimes committed in the “dirty war,” the transition would have been incomparably more difficult.
Furthermore, here militarism as such had few friends in civil society while, due to having adopted leftist or progressive clothing, Chavismo, despite the terrible disasters it has caused, still has many sympathizers in Venezuela and, as aberrant as it may seem, continues to have some in other parts of the world despite having merged with drug trafficking cartels and terrorist organizations financed by the bloodthirsty Iranian ayatollahs.
All in all, although the task that those determined to transform Venezuela from the failed state that the Chavistas and their friends turned it into a viable democratic country is Herculean, the availability of gigantic oil deposits should facilitate it. Although Trump, with a repellent degree of impudence, sometimes speaks as if the only reason he cares about Venezuela is his desire to seize its material resources, he may find it necessary to persuade his compatriots that the ambitious initiative he has undertaken will not cost them a single cent. It will be their way of paying tribute to the prevailing values in virtually all current democracies in which governments fear being accused of wasting money on useless projects that would otherwise go into the pockets of consumers.
Although it is evident that the eventual enrichment of Venezuela – like that of Argentina or any other country – would economically benefit not only its own inhabitants but also others, including insatiable North American businessmen, Trump’s willingness to highlight the commercial advantages he foresees will not help him gain the support of other countries. From a propaganda point of view, it would be much better for him to limit himself to alluding to the crimes perpetrated by an illegitimate gangster regime and his alleged desire that one day ordinary Venezuelans would fully enjoy the geological advantages that nature has conferred on them.
