SIGN UP FOR OUR
Click image to enlarge
Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.
President Donald Trump’s first address to the United Nations hit close to home in Costa Rica. Only two countries away — past Panama and Columbia — neighboring Venezuela was singled out as a “rogue” nation right alongside North Korea and Iran. The president said he would be taking actions to end the regime of President Nicolas Maduro and stop the continuing suffering of the Venezuelan people.
It’s not time yet for the people of Venezuela to be jumping for joy, but apparently help is on the way.
By the forcefulness of his words, President Trump and his team look to intend to make a positive difference – and soon – in this South American country of 31.7 million people that have lived with political upheaval and corruption for decades. Under the oppressive government of communist Hugo Chavez that began in 1999 until his death in 2013, Venezuela began a downward spiral that has culminated in the failed socialist policies of President Maduro leaving the people of Venezuela in despair. Recent riots in capital city Caracas protesting economic conditions brought on by Maduro’s government have left more than 100 dead in recent months, according to CBS News.
“The scourge of our planet today is a small group of rogue regimes that violate every principle on which the United Nations is based. They respect neither their own citizens nor the sovereign rights of their countries … We have also imposed tough, calibrated sanctions on the socialist Maduro regime in Venezuela, which has brought a once thriving nation to the brink of total collapse,” President Trump said in New York City on Tuesday. “The socialist dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro has inflicted terrible pain and suffering on the good people of that country. This corrupt regime destroyed a prosperous nation by imposing a failed ideology that has produced poverty and misery everywhere it has been tried. To make matters worse, Maduro has defied his own people, stealing power from their elected representatives to preserve his disastrous rule.“The Venezuelan people are starving and their country is collapsing. Their democratic institutions are being destroyed. This situation is completely unacceptable and we cannot stand by and watch.”
President Trump further stated that his goal is to help Venezuela “regain their freedom, recover their country and restore their democracy.”
In addition to sanctions against the Maduro government, President Trump stressed that he is well prepared to take “further action” including military options against the Maduro regime.
“We call for the full restoration of democracy and political freedoms in Venezuela,” President Trump said, receiving loud applause from the UN audience of diplomats and invited guests. “The problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been faithfully implemented. From the Soviet Union to Cuba to Venezuela, wherever true socialism or communism has been adopted, it has delivered anguish and devastation and failure. Those who preach the tenets of these discredited ideologies only contribute to the continued suffering of the people who live under these cruel systems.“America stands with every person living under a brutal regime. Our respect for sovereignty is also a call for action. All people deserve a government that cares for their safety, their interests, and their wellbeing, including their prosperity.”
President Trump spent a lot of time in this 42-minute speech dedicated to Venezuela, which was unexpected. Pre-speech TV news reports said the president would highlight the growing threat of North Korea and perhaps Iran, but taking aim at this South American nation was indeed a welcome surprise.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s speech with these comments on Twitter.
“In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech,” Netanyahu said. “President Trump spoke the truth about the great dangers facing our world … and issued a powerful call to confront them in order to ensure the future of humanity.”
Venezuela should be a prosperous, wealthy nation but it isn’t. This Caribbean coastal country holds the world’s largest known oil reserves, according to Wikipedia. The country is rich in minerals and agriculture, but poor in leadership that has clearly failed.
The eyes of the world are now more focused not only on North Korea and Iran, but now also on Venezuela’s plight. What’s been going on far too long in Venezuela needs to be brought to a screeching halt with Maduro behind bars and true democratic elections held, freeing the people of Venezuela to pursue their own destiny.
About the Author
Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.
Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.
