People Who Care About Democracy Do Not Plot Coups Abroad By Peter Certo!!
(2019-01-31 at 13:14:33 )

People Who Care About Democracy Do Not Plot Coups Abroad By Peter Certo

Do we think people who armed death squads and started wars really want to "bring democracy" to Venezuela??

For some months now, Venezuelas socialist government has lurched through a series of escalating crises - hyperinflation, mass protests, political violence - while both the government and its opposition have flirted with authoritarianism.

It is not pretty - and to hear the right wing tell it, it is the future the United States left wants for our own country. As if to prevent that, the Trump administration is now fomenting a coup in Venezuela.

They have publicly recognized an unelected opposition leader as president, discussed coup plans with Venezuelas military, and sanctioned oil revenues the country needs to resolve its economic crisis. They are even threatening to send United States troops.

They will tell you this about restoring "democracy" and "human rights" in the South American country. But one look at the administration officials driving the putsch perishes the thought.

Take Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who recently spoke at the United Nations calling on countries to stand "with the forces of freedom" against "the mayhem" of Venezuelas government.

This fall, the same Pompeo shared a photo of himself beaming and shaking hands with Saudi Arabias crown prince - just as the princes order to kill and dismember a United States resident journalist was coming to light. The same prince is carrying on a United States-backed war in Yemen, where millions are starving.

Does this sound like a man who gives one fig for democracy, or against mayhem???

Or take Pompeos point man on Venezuela, the dreaded Elliott Abrams. Pompeo said Abrams was appointed for his "passion for the rights and liberties of all peoples." More likely, it was Abrams history as Reagans "Secretary of Dirty Wars" (yes, that is a real thing people called him).

A singularly villainous figure, Abrams vouched for United States backing of a genocidal Guatemalan regime and Salvadoran death squads in the 1980s. And when a Unites Nations report cataloged 22,000 atrocities in El Salvador, Abrams praised his administrations "fabulous achievement" in the country.

Abrams was convicted of lying to Congress about United States support for Nicaraguas brutal Contras, but that did not prevent him from serving in George W. Bushs State Department - which backed not only the Iraq war but an earlier coup attempt in, you guessed it, Venezuela.

"It is very nice to be back," Abrams told reporters. I bet!!

Finally there is National Security Adviser John Bolton, who recently took a cute photo with the words "5,000 troops" written on a notepad. Bolton still thinks the Iraq war was a good idea, and he would like one with Iran too. Do we think it is bread and roses he wants for Venezuela??

For all its faults, Venezuela achieved tremendous things before the current crisis - including drastic reductions in poverty and improvements in living standards.

Mismanagement and repression may have imperiled those gains, but that is no justification at all for the United States getting involved.

In fact, United States sanctions have worsened the economic crisis, and United States coordination with coup plotters has poisoned the countrys political environment even further.

The future of Venezuelas revolution is for Venezuelans to decide, not us. All that can come of more intervention now is more crisis, and maybe even war.

Instead of regime change, the United States - and especially progressive politicians (looking at you, Nancy Pelosi) - should back regional dialogue and diplomacy.

While Democratic Party leaders appear to back President Trump, a few representatives - like Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) - are bravely backing a diplomatic course.

For all the rights warnings that the left wants to "turn the United States into Venezuela," we should pay careful attention to what the people who gave guns to death squads and destroyed the Middle East want to do with it.

Because unlike the left, they are already running our own country.

Reprinted here with permission from "Otherwords.org" -Bold Opinions for Newspapers and New Media-