The Venezuelan Crisis

Since the Cold War, the United States has had a long history of meddling in the affairs of other nations around the world. Some have been very beneficial as in South Korea, a nation that exists as a democracy today. Others, like Iran, have not been as successful as recent events have dictated.

A country that may be falling into the list of nations that have fallen after attempted US involvement is Venezuela. Since November, the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro has been in constant conflict with the native people for a variety of reasons. It began with the president trying to nullify congress’ power and has since escalated to the increase in inflation, the food shortages, as well as a rise in crime.

To try and save this seemingly crippling nation, the United States called a UN Security Council consultation to discuss the situation occurring in Venezuela. The Trump administration fears that if it is not handled early on, then this could evolve into another conflict like Syria or North Korea.

This has been met with a variety of criticisms from President Maduro. To begin with, he believes that the UN is an unnecessary step because the problems occurring are simply domestic, and promises that they will never be anything more than domestic, saying “We will never be a threat against the peace and security in international or the regional level,”

In addition to posing no other threat, other members of the UN security council agree with Venezuela, that going straight to the UN would be skipping many steps that have an equally beneficial chance of solving the issue at hand.

The US has been a member in some of these alternative solutions. For example, the Organization of American States voted this week to have a meeting of Foreign Ministers later this month to discuss the current situation at hand. Uruguay’s UN ambassador Elbio Rosselli believes that this will be a much more beneficial meeting since it has worked in the past, “If the Colombians could overcome 50 years of war in a peaceful manner, I’m pretty sure our brothers in Venezuela can take the lesson and do likewise,”

At the moment, the United States has no intentions of getting involved in the situation, they simply want the United Nations to prevent worse atrocities from occurring, and be able to intervene if anything is necessary. Aside from the OAS meeting though, President Madur

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Featured Image via Wikimedia.

o is reluctant to accept blame for certain problems, such as the rise in crime, placing the blame on far-right extremists. Maduro also says that he has been working with the former presidents of Spain, the Dominican Republic, and Panama as well as the Pope to begin discussions between the two sides.

Although the United States hopes to prevent a massive conflict before anything occurs, there is so much opposition to their plan that it is unlikely to occur anytime soon.