What Biden Can Do to Free Venezuela from the Illegal Regime of Nicolás Maduro – Twin Cities

With flags and ballots in hand, thousands of Venezuelans have taken to the streets of Caracas and around the world to protest Nicolás Maduro’s refusal to acknowledge his crushing defeat in a month-old presidential election. The United States can do more to support them.

Opposition party leader María Corina Machado recently emerged from hiding to drive through the streets amid throngs of protesters. Emerging from an armored truck, she urged her supporters to be courageous, defend the truth and step up resistance to Maduro’s fraudulent regime. Calling the protests “the greatest civic achievement in the country’s history,” Machado warned that the movement would not relent.

After Maduro ordered his military commanders to respond to protesters with an “iron fist,” at least 24 people have been found dead and 2,200 jailed. Undeterred, opposition leaders plan to maintain a critical mass on the streets, lure military leaders to their side, and exhaust the dictator’s resources and power. But to do all that, they will need all the help they can get from Washington.

The Biden administration has expressed openness to negotiations with Caracas, but Maduro has shown he cannot be trusted to honor his agreements. After talks with the United States in Qatar last year, Maduro’s government promised to allow free and fair elections. That turned out to be another bluff: Not only were the elections staggeringly unfair, but Maduro responded to the results by repressing opposition leaders and their supporters.

Meanwhile, waiting for Maduro’s leftist comrades from Colombia, Brazil and Mexico to intervene will only give the dictator more time for fraud and repression.

The Biden administration has raised the possibility of offering Maduro amnesty from drug trafficking prosecutions if he agrees to a peaceful transition of power. But given his past failure to uphold international agreements and the four long months left in his term, that carrot likely won’t be enough to remove the strongman. The United States and other foreign powers will have to threaten him with “sticks,” imposing economic and diplomatic consequences to remove him from power.

The harshest possible sanctions must be imposed on Maduro and all state-owned enterprises for an exit plan to be his best option. Hector Briceño, a Venezuelan postdoctoral researcher at Germany’s University of Rostock, told me that while sanctions on private companies could hurt ordinary Venezuelans, targeting state-owned enterprises like the oil industry could be effective when the regime is as cash-starved as it is now.

“The profits from the oil industry are not reaching the people,” Briceño said. “Maduro distributes them to his allies in the military and other high-ranking officials.”

Maduro’s regime, like that of his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, operates on a system of bribes and threats from above. Threats alone only work for a certain period of time; at some point, Maduro’s supporters will expect payment.

In April, responding to Maduro’s interference and opposition intimidation ahead of the election, President Biden reinstated some Trump-era sanctions that had been eased after the Qatar deal. The administration has indicated, however, that it will allow some foreign oil operations in the country to continue.

The Maduro government’s opposition to reimposing sanctions has shown that they are having an impact, but its continued intransigence also reveals that they have not gone far enough to affect its behavior. And this is the worst time to be generous to the regime. Why not suspend authorization of the remaining low-yielding, risky, and environmentally hazardous foreign oil projects, at least until a democratic government is in place?

Washington should also officially recognize Edmundo González Urrutia as the country’s rightful new leader. The Biden administration has joined several other countries in recognizing González as the winner of the election but has stopped short of naming him president-elect.

The administration cannot necessarily ensure that Venezuela’s valiant fight for freedom will prevail. But doing less than it can will only help Maduro and his cronies become richer and more emboldened in prolonging their political power.

The stakes could not be higher. Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have emigrated to the United States and elsewhere seeking a better future, and 40% of the rest say they plan to leave if Maduro does not. A once-booming economy has been devastated by years of mismanagement and corruption, and the country has become a haven for institutionalized crime and terrorism and a security threat to the entire hemisphere.

The courageous Venezuelan resistance is not giving up, and neither should the United States. This is a golden opportunity to end 25 years of misery under Chávez and Maduro.

Kristina Foltz is a researcher and writer based in California and Colombia. She wrote this column for the Los Angeles Times.