They are in an uproar because the elections are approaching, and they cross their fingers for the defeat of the blonde man. Very cowardly, especially because when their candidate, the senile Biden, was not on the scene, they walked quietly.
I imagine that they kneel before the holy pollsters and pray for the miracle that this time the polls will be right, not like four years ago. Because it is true, Donald Trump is doing terribly in the polls, just like the last time he won the election.
Well, their position is despicable because they prefer to ingratiate themselves with what the rest of the world should —I repeat, “should”— think, the champions of political correctness both here and there, rather than with what a Venezuelan should believe and support if he aspires to see his country free again.
Come on, Trump is unbearable. We all know that. Crude, hateful, pedantic. He says what he should and what he shouldn’t. Cynical and caustic. But the guy is not Sandra Bullock, and this isn’t a Miss Congeniality contest. I don’t care if the guy is loathsome. Everyone liked Obama while he was pulling down his pants in front of the Iranian theocracy. I would rather have someone uncouth who does the job well than a likable seducer who sinks the boat.
Now, when it comes to Venezuela, there are no gray areas. So I think it is screwed up that as we are approaching U.S. elections in November, some Venezuelans are betting on a Democratic Party victory to ingratiate with their progressive friends in foreign universities and post their frivolous support for the latest social cause on Instagram. Today, it is a black square; tomorrow, it will be some other stupidity.
And it is screwed up because Trump has been the most supportive American president towards Venezuela’s freedom. Period. Period, period, period. There are no grays in the discussion. The American president and the president of the world because today, we have achieved what we did thanks to the orange-skinned hater ruling the White House.
For those who have lost their memory, let’s start small (thanks to a thread I found on Twitter, which helps all of us in this endeavor): do you remember 2017, that year so striking for Venezuelans? Well, it began with one of the harshest sanctions ever imposed on an official of the Chavista regime: in February, the novel Republican administration made its debut with the accusation of drug trafficking against Tareck El Aissami, then vice-president, and the sanctioning of all his properties and assets.
That same month, Lilian Tintori, still a champion of our cause, was received at the White House. The Black man never did that. And there was a photo and everything, posted from Trump’s own Twitter account: “Venezuela should immediately release Leopoldo López, a political prisoner,” the president wrote on Twitter on February 15, 2017.
Protests began in Venezuela in April, and in May, the U.S. government sanctioned the Chavista Supreme Court for “usurping” the functions of the Venezuelan Parliament. Maduro created the Constituent Assembly out of nowhere, and Trump hit harder: in August, the U.S. directly sanctioned the dictator and banned business with the regime.
“With Trump in the White House since January, the United States has been more direct in its stance towards Venezuela than when Barack Obama was in the Oval Office,” the BBC said during those days in August.
Ooh! For the fans of the intervention, the possibility gained momentum following this concise phrase: “We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option if necessary. We have troops all over the world in places that are very far away. Venezuela is not very far away, and the people are suffering, and they are dying,” Trump said after leaving a major meeting on North Korea in August 2017.
Call it what you like: bluff, swindle, bravado, bluster… I prefer to call it deterrence and credible threat. In other words, another way to get the butcher out of Miraflores.
There were more sanctions in 2017: on the criminals of the National Electoral Council and other ministers. More blocked accounts, more prohibition of entry to the capitalist paradise for officials, relatives, friends of relatives, and anyone who was linked to the embezzlement of the millennium.
The year 2018 also started with sanctions to keep up the momentum. And in March, there was an executive order against the Petro cryptocurrency’s native invention. In April, Vice President Pence received Venezuelan leaders and also announced millions of dollars in resources to assist the ‘caminantes’ or Venezuelans who leave the country on foot and head for the Andes.
I remember that before Rex Tillerson was discourteously kicked out of the Secretariat of State, he toured Latin America in an effort to unite wills against Maduro. Mike Pence did the same in 2018. He set foot in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador. Wherever he went, the purpose was to articulate the gradual strangulation of Chavismo.
The sanctions continued until, in January 2019, an unknown congressman became President of Venezuela, thanks to the blessing of Donald Trump. And that interim parapet managed to look like a half-decent structure thanks to the international leadership of the United States. Countries and nations joined in the uncertainty because the hawk said so. And we Venezuelans owe this international support to Trump —even though friends of the Popular Will party are shamelessly crawling through Washington today to build bridges with the Democratic Party.
Elliott Abrams was appointed, the United States supported the childish nonsense of the interim (i.e., humanitarian aid and the April uprising), there was an executive order against Chavista officials again, Secretary of State Pompeo toured the region in favor of the Venezuelans; Guaidó was received with honors in Congress and the Oval Office —as if the man really was what he thinks he is. They met Simonovis, listened to Borges, and Vecchio was snuck into the meetings by an intern.
The United States gave and gave money, perhaps irresponsibly, to some teenagers who only think of vices and frivolities.
And the endless account of so much that happened follows. I imagine, of course, that in this effort, we left out so many other White House initiatives for Venezuela’s freedom. Ah, but some deficient, tremendously limited and opportunistic of little value, came up with the idea that Donald Trump, the odious Donald Trump, was never a true ally of our cause but that it was all pure electoral theater. Ah, they call us, those of us who are usually grateful for the gestures, those of us who go beyond the emotional irrationality of the collective and recognize the strategic value of our allies, Magazuelans. Of course, it’s with all the disdain. Well, let me tell you, Magazuelan, those guys are idiots.
This is not about emotional endorsements or unreasonable fanaticism. We are talking, in fact, about the ability to be able to recognize what is best for the selfish, navel-gazing cause —or like you, Bidenzuelan may wish to call it— of the freedom of Venezuela and, consequently, the freedom of the region. So, Magazuelans, unite: cross your fingers that the polls continue doing what they have done best: predicting, through their failure, the triumph of Donald Trump.