Although the US may not be currently actively involved in Venezuela, the Venezuelan government certainly thinks it is. On Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered three US diplomats out of the country, accusing them of conspiring with anti-government protesters. The US released a statement that the accusations were “baseless and false”, and that it had received no formal notifications of the expulsions.
This was amid a series of protests and violence that have so far resulted in four deaths - three last week (two of which were protesting students) and one yesterday (Monday). The Venezuelan government has aimed to arrest the protestors, and Secretary of State John Kerry expressed concerns that an arrest of the opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, would have a “chilling effect” on Venezuelans’ rights to free expression.
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| Student Protesters - Source |
As of today, Lopez has decided to hand himself into the Venezuelan authorities peacefully, while maintaining that he had not committed any crime or caused any violence.
What do you think about potential US involvement? Do you think the United States has no business commenting on the affairs of other countries, or is it perhaps our obligation as a current world power to do so?
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2 comments:
There are many Americans, both of Venezuelan and non-Venezuelan background, that may support these protests. I think as far as American representation, for now the support of individual citizens from the U.S. will lend a helping hand in the struggle. I'm not sure what the level of involvement should be on the part of the U.S. What is the level of jurisdiction that the U.S. has on foreign matters? If United States citizens are involved should our government commit to providing aid to the actual protest? If aid is provided how is this going to affect relations with the government of Venezuela? How will other governments, with similar uprisings, view the United States?
I think that the U.S. should be able to comment about the Venezuelan government's expulsion of American diplomats and its arrest of Lopez. However, to involve itself in the conflict by providing military intelligence or force to the opposition would seem like too much at this point. The U.S.'s attempts to better the lot of people in foreign countries by supporting opposition groups haven't always succeeded in the past. Like Finn said, I think that so far, American involvement should be kept at an individual level of support or opposition and not be extended to governmental action.
On a side note, the United Nations has also spoken out about the conflict: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47142&Cr=Venezuela&Cr1=#.UwahLM7C6o0. Do you think the UN would take action and perhaps forcefully intervene in Venezuela if protests and protestor arrests continued?
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