Both Spain and the U.S. are playing key international roles in the drama the continues to unfold over the future of Venezuela despite a divide between the left and the far left in both countries that is driven by ideology, oversimplification of the issue and President Donald Trump's support for interim president Juan Guaidó. The left should be leading on this important human rights issue but instead they are squabbling among themselves. The people of Venezuela deserve better.
At the heart of this is the question of who is the legitimate leader of Venezuela and who has attempted some sort of coup d'etat, a term that have been thrown around indiscriminately. Any support for or rejection of Guaidó's interim presidency is based on two questions, the first being the legitimacy of the election held in May of 2018 and subsequent inauguration of Nicolas Maduro on January 10 of this year. The European Union, the Organization of American States, the Lima Group, the Human Rights Inter-American Commission as well as 46 countries deemed it illegitimate. A low turnout of 46% underscores the people's lack of faith in the election amid violations of Venezuela's constitution including the banning of several opposition parties and leaders. Who found this election to be legitimate? Russia, China, Cuba, Iran, Egypt, Syria and Turkey, among others. Not exactly a list that emits democratic light.
If Venezuela's 2018 election was indeed fraudulent, then the second question is about the legitimacy of Guaidó's claim as interim president. This depends on a reading of Venezuela's constitution, particularly articles 233, 333 and 350, which give the National Assembly the right to name an interim president in the absence of a president of the republic until new elections are held.
Making cross-border left-right comparisons almost always a foolish endeavor. The left in Spain and the United States do not match up in many ways, but we can make some comparisons is on an issue by issue basis, like this one. And based on the two questions of legitimacy, there is no reason for the left to split over support for Maduro or Guaidó, yet they do.
In the U.S., Democratic primary frontrunners former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders have clashed over the issue as have Pedro Sanchez and Pablo Iglesias. Ideology plays a part in this, something Trump has stoked in rallies and tweets about choosing sides in this presidential showdown that he frames as a fight against socialism. In this, he misses the point: while socialism may fall on the left of a left-right economic continuum of socialism vs. capitalism, what this doesn't take into account is an up and down axis of authoritarians vs. libertarians. Maduro's failed leadership and the humanitarian crises that Venezuelan's are suffering from is about his illiberal and authoritarian approach to governing, including the fraudulent 2018 election.
Democratic primary frontrunner, Senator Bernie Sanders has declined to call Maduro a dictator and has also refused to say if Guaidó has a legitimate claim to the interim presidency. In January he tweeted: “…we must learn the lessons of the past and not be in the business of regime change or supporting coups—as we have in Chile, Guatemala, Brazil & the DR [Dominican Republic]. The US has a long history of inappropriately intervening in Latin American nations; we must not go down that road again.” While trying to prove that he can handle foreign policy, Sanders is showing his deep lack of experience and understanding by conflating the past misadventures of the U.S. in Latin America with the current humanitarian crises in Venezuela.
This has led to clashes with other Democrats, including fellow primary frontrunner Joe Biden who tweeted that“Maduro's regime is responsible for incredible suffering. The U.S. must stand with the National Assembly & Guaidó in their efforts to restore democracy through legitimate, internationally monitored elections." Biden is not alone in this position, he is joined by most Democratic primary candidates as well as Speaker Nancy Pelosi, all of which support new elections in Venezuela but oppose any sort of military intervention.
Sanders isn't alone either. The left-wing activist group Code Pink has gotten into the picture by occupying the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington in protest of any U.S. intervention in Venezuela. They've hung signs from the embassy declaring “No Coup, Peace With Venezuela” and “No War for Oil” and in an op-ed in the Washington Posttheir co-director conflates it with the invasion of Iraq. She also frames Code Pink activists as the victims of Venezuelan protesters who have stopped food from coming in to the embassy. In their zeal to 'protect' Venezuelan's from a war, Code Pink activists have missed the crushing irony of their woes, apparently they haven't heard of the “Maduro diet” due to severe food shortages.
Iglesias takes his opposition to supporting Guaidó further than Sanders, but we can see this same sort of left-right oversimplification of the issue. In a tweet in January, Iglesias tweeted: “Trump and his allies are not interested in democracy and human rights in Venezuela, they are interested in their oil. Spain and Europe must defend international legality, dialogue and peaceful mediation, not a coup d'état.” Sound familiar? He doubled down more recently, saying “We strongly condemn the coup d'état.”
My writing on these pages as well as others confirms my opposition to just about everything Trump does in the name of my country. Supporting Guaidó is probably the only decent foreign policy inclination he has had and one that has been heavily guided by the more moderate and internationally savvy Republican Senator Marco Rubio. Yes, it's important to oppose the military intervention that national security advisor, John Bolton and secretary of state Mike Pompeo are flirting with.
Trump's support of Guaidó's interim presidency is a terrible reason to call it a coup as is some vague idea that Maduro represents the left and Guaidó represents the right. This is about putting an end to the humanitarian crises in Venezuela and supporting democratic values. The people of Venezuela and Juan Guaidó are attempting a very heavy lift, they are up against corrupt forces with immense power and wealth and the backing of Russia and China. They deserve our unequivocal support.
This op-ed was published in Spanish en El Español.