The Trump administration should sanction and, if necessary, introduce criminal charges against U.S. citizens who attempt to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Venezuela.
I say that in light of Bloomberg’s reporting on Tuesday of U.S. business officials meeting with representatives of Nicolas Maduro’s government in Caracas. These officials are apparently negotiating with Maduro to gain access to Venezuelan oil reserves in return for restructuring Maduro’s debts. Bloomberg also reports that Erik Prince, the former security boss and present private financier, recently pitched his own business proposal to Maduro’s vice president Delcy Rodriguez.
That Prince appears to be cavorting with Rodriguez is quite astonishing. Maduro’s right-hand woman, after all, is key to his retention of power. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what’s so disgusting about these meetings. The real crime is Maduro’s continuing tyranny.
Having stolen political authority from its rightful inheritor, acting President Juan Guaido, Maduro continues to drive Venezuela into brutal poverty. And it’s poverty with a terrible price tag: millions of Venezuelans have fled their nation, child mortality rates are skyrocketing, and basic foods and medicines are few and far between. That this is happening in the nation with the Earth’s largest proven oil reserves says something about just how bad a leader Maduro truly is.
Yet, these meetings also suggest some unpleasant truths about our own nation. The implication of these meetings is that Prince and these other Americans are happy to help Maduro keep killing Venezuelan children, as long as they can make a few bucks at the same time. That’s an unequivocal disgrace.
Yes, Maduro’s ouster has taken longer than expected. That’s primarily because President Trump has been unwilling to do what he said he would do, and put an oil embargo on Maduro’s enabler, Cuba. Regardless, the U.S. government cannot tolerate efforts by its citizens to circumvent its sanctions. Those sanctions exist to put pressure on despicable usurpers of Venezuelan democracy and to help the rightful government reclaim power for the people.
If Prince wants to dance with the Venezuelan devil, so be it. But he must reap the American whirlwind for doing so.
