Trump’s sad dismissal of democracy
Of all the words President Trump spoke following the raid that brought Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro to a U.S. courthouse to face drug-running and other federal charges, the most important was the one word he failed to utter: democracy.
“The future of Venezuela must be determined by the people of Venezuela alone,” UN human rights official Volker Turk of Austria said following the grab-and-go military removal of Maduro from his safe (not so safe) house outside Caracas.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, speaking in Parliament, said UK government policy consists of pressuring the Trump administration to clear the path “toward that democratic transition, because [Venezuelan] stability will not be maintained unless” the “will of the people” is registered in free and fair elections.
In contrast, President Trump has made clear that his primary focus is on restoring Venezuelan oil production.
“We need total access,” the president said. “We need access to the oil and to other things in their country that allows us to rebuild their country.”
As a general rule, Trump said the “future will be determined by the ability to protect commerce and territory and resources that are core to national security. These are the laws that have always determined national power, and we are going to keep it that way.”
Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest known reserves of oil. It’s also true that years of economic mis-management under Maduro and his charismatic predecessor Hugo Chavez dealt a crippling blow to the country’s petroleum industry. The Chavez experiment in nationalization has been a complete bust.
Chavez, who died in 2013, tossed most foreign oil companies working in Venezuela out of the country in 2007.
Trump appeared to commit the United States to restoring the expropriated firms to full free market sway.
“So I’d like to do [elections] quickly, but it takes a period of time,” the president said before turning back to his favorite topic and primary concern. “We’re rebuilding. We have to rebuild that whole infrastructure. The infrastructure is rotted.
“It’s actually very dangerous. It’s a blow up territory. Oil is very dangerous. It’s a very dangerous thing to take oil out of the ground.”
True enough, but isn’t it even more dangerous to postpone for months on end, perhaps for years, elections that will make Venezuela whole and sovereign again? Perhaps that’s Trump’s angle. Fairly-rendered elections confer legitimacy on a government and its leaders. Today’s illegitimate rulers in Caracas may be easier for Trump to push around, which is exactly to his liking.
Trump was asked by a reporter if he had been in contact with Venezuela’s main opposition leader, the brave and resourceful Nobel Peace laureate Maria Corina Machado. He said he hadn’t spoken to her.
Following Maduro’s transfer to a Brooklyn jail cell, Machado praised Trump for an historic deed. “It’s a huge step to a democratic transition” in Venezuela, she said.
Trump told reporters, “I think it would be very tough for her to lead. She doesn’t have support … within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect within the country.”
It shouldn’t be forgotten that Machado’s replacement (she was barred from running) in the July 2024 presidential election, the colorless Edmundo Gonzalez, won a smashing victory. Farce trailed in the wake of the election. Under pressure from the government, the National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner. The international community, including the United States, condemned the action.
Following the fraudulent election, Gonzalez left Venezuela for Spain. Machado, likewise targeted by the Maduro regime, refused to be intimidated and stayed put, albeit, in hiding.
Machado has plenty of support and respect among the people of Venezuela, though the same almost certainly can’t be said of the Venezuelan military. The way Trump sees things, maybe that was enough for him to dismiss Machado without a moment’s hesitation.
It is clear President Trump doesn’t value democracy. The case of Venezuela confirms the point.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.