Captured By The Past

The left is pretty pissed that we might have a position on Venezuela.  Chris Murphy has a tweet string wherein he called for caution on any news coming out of Colombia/Venezuela, because Trump wants a war.  Then, in one of the tweets, he said we should pressure Maduro to step down and have free and fair elections.  This is precisely what the opposition within Venezuela wants. 

The reaction, including from people I generally respect, is "I remember Iran/Guatemala/Iraq/Chile" and then pivoting to a widespread condemnation of American imperialism and neo-imperialism.

But sometimes, it does make sense to pressure an illegitimate government.  Apartheid South Africa? What about the pressures we brought to bear on the Soviet Union in the '80s? Tunisia?

Even armed intervention isn't always awful.  I think Wilson did the right thing for the right reason in the wrong way when he helped overthrow Huerta in Mexico.  Carranza resented him for it, but Mexico was better off deposing yet another caudillo and installing a very flawed electoral dictatorship of one party rule that eventually became a true, if fragile, democracy.  I think getting rid of Noriega in Panama was a good thing.

America made terribly short sighted decisions during the Cold War with regards to Lumumba, Allende and Mosaddegh. You can throw Diem in there, though he as awful. In fact, if I had to guess, I would say the institutional memory within the CIA today is somewhat reticent about regime change.

That doesn't mean that America shouldn't have a voice.  And it certainly doesn't mean that Maduro is anything but a thug running a petrostate as a patrimonial crime syndicate.  Maybe some people are getting sucked into the "socialist" label that Maduro borrowed from Chavez, but using oil money to pay off supporters isn't socialism.  New flash.  The People's Republic of North Korea isn't a republic.  Just because Maduro calls himself a socialist doesn't mean that he is.

Venezuela is in a crisis because it is poorly governed.  The people of Venezuela realize this.  That's the point.  Yes, we shouldn't be taking active measures to depose Maduro, but we should be supporting those on the ground who want him gone.  We should be working towards free an fair election in Venezuela.