This is essentially a coup. Recognizing an unelected oligarch is a continuation of the US's policy of undemocratic meddling in latin american countries.
1. https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/trump-approval-falls...
He seems as elected as Maduro.
>In its role as the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people, the National Assembly invoked the country's constitution to declare Nicolas Maduro illegitimate, and the office of the presidency therefore vacant.
Is the power to choose their country's president held by the people or by the regional superpower?
After fixing the last elections, Maduro has no greater legitimacy than the coup leader, who at least recognizes that and calls for new, fair elections.
Where are you getting that statistic from?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Venezuelan_presidential_e...
Their sample sizes are also ridiculously low. Do you not recall how poorly the polls predicted the 2016 result?[2]
1. https://medium.com/@CitationsPodcst/episode-25-the-banality-...
2. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/
I'm not saying that this isn't a coup, but the idea that Maduro is a legitimate and democratically elected ruler is purely fantastical. It's a coup against an autocrat - the only way to get rid of one. The size of his loyalist kernel is irrelevant here - just the fact that he can't, hasn't and won't win in a free election.
Actually it does not. You're assuming that I claim the US election was also fair, legal and representative.
>they were actually forbidden to vote for their desired candidate
Votes are still cast on secret ballots, so I don't understand how that would even work.
>It's a coup against an autocrat - the only way to get rid of one.
Really? A US-instigated military coup is the only way? Historical[1] events[2] seem[3] to show otherwise.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_I...
It's quite easy: jail the respective candidates and remove them from the ballot.
> Really? A US-instigated military coup is the only way?
The position of the US government could be seen as an improvement from earlier calls for a direct military intervention. As long as they do not finance or advise the contenders, lending them international credibility is a standard foreign policy move that doesn't fall under "instigation". The political rift was there and the US should of course applaud any developments in line with their previous foreign policy position, strongly against the Chavez/Maduro regime.
Of course, given the history of the US-Venezuela relations, it's hard to believe US will limit itself to mere diplomatic actions.
Doesn't mean it's not still wrong.
>As long as they do not finance or advise the contenders
Too late. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/world/americas/donald-tru...
"Make the economy scream" was a statement actually uttered by a US president in response to a democratically elected socialist in Chile[1].
According to Jorge Arreaza, Venezuelan foreign minister[2]:
> We cannot repatriate the profit from our company in the United States to invest it in food and medicine in Venezuela.
Economic sanctions ensure that the pain of imperialism is felt by the most vulnerable[3].
We need to wake up to the misery that we impose on the world.
1. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm
2. https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14239
3. https://www.thenation.com/article/trumps-sanctions-make-econ...
The lack of food and medicine in Venezuela is purely the Venezuelan government's fault, and Jorge Arreaza (an in general, the entire Venezuelan government) has used the US as a scapegoat for the past 20 years.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-gold/venezuela-g...
We live in a highly interdependent and interconnected globalized world. Lack of access to the global market hurts Venezuelan farmers, leaving them unable to export their excess and cushion local market fluctuations. It has also hurt Venezuelan consumers unable to purchase imported goods with their Bolivars, rendering them worth less.
Medicine is a patent-encumbered, capital-intensive industry that is protected at the WTO level[1]. When your economy is highly specialized (due to globalization, the post-colonial resource curse, political pressures and/or brain-drain emigration) it becomes dependent on foreign imports of medicine. When those suppliers become malicious, a shortage is what emerges.
No one is blameless, but we must examine the situation with a clear understanding of the actors with power and the actors without.
[1] https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/jo...
Why do you claim the US sanctions are to blame, when said sanctions have only been applied to individuals? (Unless there are new ones I'm not aware of).
But what is your basis for calling him an oligarch? It sounds like you're just reaching for an insult that has certain historical overtones that you think useful.
1. https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1088704085375795200