On U.S.,
interference in Venezuela (open letter)
The United States government
must cease interfering in Venezuela’s internal politics, especially for the
purpose of overthrowing the country’s government. Actions by the Trump
administration and its allies in the hemisphere are almost certain to make the
situation in Venezuela worse, leading to unnecessary human suffering, violence,
and instability.
Venezuela’s political
polarization is not new; the country has long been divided along racial and
socioeconomic lines. But the polarization has deepened in recent years. This is
partly due to US support for an opposition strategy aimed at removing the
government of Nicolás Maduro through extra-electoral means. While the
opposition has been divided on this strategy, US support has backed hardline
opposition sectors in their goal of ousting the Maduro government through often
violent protests, a military coup d’etat, or other avenues that sidestep the
ballot box.
Under the Trump
administration, aggressive rhetoric against the Venezuelan government has
ratcheted up to a more extreme and threatening level, with Trump administration
officials talking of “military action” and condemning Venezuela, along with
Cuba and Nicaragua, as part of a “troika of tyranny.” Problems resulting from
Venezuelan government policy have been worsened by US economic sanctions,
illegal under the Organization of American States and the United Nations ― as
well as US law and other international treaties and conventions. These
sanctions have cut off the means by which the Venezuelan government could
escape from its economic recession, while causing a dramatic falloff in oil
production and worsening the economic crisis, and causing many people to die
because they can’t get access to life-saving medicines. Meanwhile, the US and
other governments continue to blame the Venezuelan government ― solely ― for
the economic damage, even that caused by the US sanctions.
Now the US and its allies,
including OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro and Brazil’s far-right president,
Jair Bolsonaro, have pushed Venezuela to the precipice. By recognizing National
Assembly President Juan Guaido as the new president of Venezuela ― something
illegal under the OAS Charter ― the Trump administration has sharply
accelerated Venezuela’s political crisis in the hopes of dividing the
Venezuelan military and further polarizing the populace, forcing them to choose
sides. The obvious, and sometimes stated goal, is to force Maduro out via a
coup d’etat.
The reality is that despite
hyperinflation, shortages, and a deep depression, Venezuela remains a
politically polarized country. The US and its allies must cease encouraging
violence by pushing for violent, extralegal regime change. If the Trump
administration and its allies continue to pursue their reckless course in
Venezuela, the most likely result will be bloodshed, chaos, and instability.
The US should have learned something from its regime change ventures in Iraq,
Syria, Libya, and its long, violent history of sponsoring regime change in
Latin America.
Neither side in Venezuela can
simply vanquish the other. The military, for example, has at least 235,000
frontline members, and there are at least 1.6 million in militias. Many of
these people will fight, not only on the basis of a belief in national
sovereignty that is widely held in Latin America ― in the face of what
increasingly appears to be a US-led intervention ― but also to protect
themselves from likely repression if the opposition topples the government by
force.
In such situations, the only
solution is a negotiated settlement, as has happened in the past in Latin
American countries when politically polarized societies were unable to resolve
their differences through elections. There have been efforts, such as those led
by the Vatican in the fall of 2016, that had potential, but they received no
support from Washington and its allies who favored regime change. This strategy
must change if there is to be any viable solution to the ongoing crisis in
Venezuela.
For the sake of the Venezuelan
people, the region, and for the principle of national sovereignty, these
international actors should instead support negotiations between the Venezuelan
government and its opponents that will allow the country to finally emerge from
its political and economic crisis.
Signed:
Noam Chomsky, Professor Emeritus, MIT and Laureate Professor,
University of Arizona
Laura Carlsen, Director, Americas Program, Center for
International Policy
Greg Grandin, Professor of History, New York University
Miguel Tinker Salas, Professor of Latin American History and
Chicano/a Latino/a Studies at Pomona College
Sujatha Fernandes, Professor of Political Economy and
Sociology, University of Sydney
Steve Ellner, Associate Managing Editor of Latin American
Perspectives
Alfred de Zayas, former UN Independent Expert on the
Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order and only UN
rapporteur to have visited Venezuela in 21 years
Boots Riley, Writer/Director of Sorry to Bother You,
Musician
John Pilger, Journalist & Film-Maker
Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy
Research
Jared Abbott, PhD Candidate, Department of Government,
Harvard University
Dr. Tim Anderson, Director, Centre for Counter Hegemonic
Studies
Elisabeth Armstrong, Professor of the Study of Women and
Gender, Smith College
Alexander Aviña, PhD, Associate Professor of History, Arizona
State University
Marc Becker, Professor of History, Truman State
University
Medea Benjamin, Cofounder, CODEPINK
Phyllis Bennis, Program Director, New Internationalism,
Institute for Policy Studies
Dr. Robert E. Birt, Professor of Philosophy, Bowie State
University
Aviva Chomsky, Professor of History, Salem State
University
James Cohen, University of Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle
Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, Associate Professor, George Mason
University
Benjamin Dangl, PhD, Editor of Toward Freedom
Dr. Francisco Dominguez, Faculty of Professional and Social
Sciences, Middlesex University, UK
Alex Dupuy, John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology Emeritus,
Wesleyan University
Jodie Evans, Cofounder, CODEPINK
Vanessa Freije, Assistant Professor of International Studies,
University of Washington
Gavin Fridell, Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor
in International Development Studies, St. Mary’s University
Evelyn Gonzalez, Counselor, Montgomery College
Jeffrey L. Gould, Rudy Professor of History, Indiana
University
Bret Gustafson, Associate Professor of Anthropology,
Washington University in St. Louis
Peter Hallward, Professor of Philosophy, Kingston
University
John L. Hammond, Professor of Sociology, CUNY
Mark Healey, Associate Professor of History, University of
Connecticut
Gabriel Hetland, Assistant Professor of Latin American,
Caribbean and U.S. Latino Studies, University of Albany
Forrest Hylton, Associate Professor of History, Universidad
Nacional de Colombia-Medellín
Daniel James, Bernardo Mendel Chair of Latin American History
Chuck Kaufman, National Co-Coordinator, Alliance for Global
Justice
Daniel Kovalik, Adjunct Professor of Law, University of
Pittsburgh
Winnie Lem, Professor, International Development Studies,
Trent University
Dr. Gilberto López y Rivas, Professor-Researcher, National
University of Anthropology and History, Morelos, Mexico
Mary Ann Mahony, Professor of History, Central Connecticut
State University
Jorge Mancini, Vice President, Foundation for Latin American
Integration (FILA)
Luís Martin-Cabrera, Associate Professor of Literature and
Latin American Studies, University of California San Diego
Teresa A. Meade, Florence B. Sherwood Professor of History
and Culture, Union College
Frederick Mills, Professor of Philosophy, Bowie State
University
Stephen Morris, Professor of Political Science and
International Relations, Middle Tennessee State University
Liisa L. North, Professor Emeritus, York University
Paul Ortiz, Associate Professor of History, University of
Florida
Christian Parenti, Associate Professor, Department of
Economics, John Jay College CUNY
Nicole Phillips, Law Professor at the Université de la
Foundation Dr. Aristide Faculté des Sciences Juridiques et Politiques and
Adjunct Law Professor at the University of California Hastings College of the
Law
Beatrice Pita, Lecturer, Department of Literature, University
of California San Diego
Margaret Power, Professor of History, Illinois Institute of
Technology
Vijay Prashad, Editor, The TriContinental
Eleanora Quijada Cervoni FHEA, Staff Education Facilitator
& EFS Mentor, Centre for Higher Education, Learning & Teaching at The
Australian National University
Walter Riley, Attorney and Activist
William I. Robinson, Professor of Sociology, University of
California, Santa Barbara
Mary Roldan, Dorothy Epstein Professor of Latin American
History, Hunter College/ CUNY Graduate Center
Karin Rosemblatt, Professor of History, University of
Maryland
Emir Sader, Professor of Sociology, University of the State of
Rio de Janeiro
Rosaura Sanchez, Professor of Latin American Literature and
Chicano Literature, University of California, San Diego
T.M. Scruggs Jr., Professor Emeritus, University of
Iowa
Victor Silverman, Professor of History, Pomona College
Brad Simpson, Associate Professor of History, University of
Connecticut
Jeb Sprague, Lecturer, University of Virginia
Christy Thornton, Assistant Professor of History, Johns
Hopkins University
Sinclair S. Thomson, Associate Professor of History, New York
University
Steven Topik, Professor of History, University of California,
Irvine
Stephen Volk, Professor of History Emeritus, Oberlin
College
Kirsten Weld, John. L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social
Sciences, Department of History, Harvard University
Kevin Young, Assistant Professor of History, University of
Massachusetts Amherst
Patricio Zamorano, Academic of Latin American Studies;
Executive Director, InfoAmericas
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