Maduro Must Go

Farris Ahmad




Maduro Must Go

Venezuela is one of the most resource rich countries in the Western Hemisphere. At one point, as a result of their oil reserves, they were an incredibly wealthy country, the wealthiest in South America into the 90’s. Although Venezuela was a booming economy in the 1990s, income inequality became a contentious issue for the people. Subsequently, Hugo Chavez rose to power and expeditiously nationalized the foreign owned oil drilling sites and promised to redistribute the wealth. Instead, Chavez used these funds to enshrine his own socialist dictatorship and marginalized opposition citizens by ensuring they could not find employment. Chavez seized thousands of plots of land from the wealthy, who were supposedly deteriorating the country, and promised to redistribute the land, which often ended up in the hands of incompetent supporters of Chavez. As a result, the productive capacity of the country fell dramatically, leading to unprecedented levels of hyperinflation. While Chavez is often hailed as a hero for the poor, his policies of redistribution have had lingering, deathly effects felt years after his passing. Today, the people of Venezuela are desperately digging through the trash to find food. According to Forbes, the people of Venezuela are breaking into zoos and butchering the animals to feed their family. The government, led by Venezuela’s Socialist Party at the helm of Nicolas Maduro, has made it illegal for hospitals to report child deaths due to starvation. While estimates vary, the New York Times reports nearly 12,000 infants died due to malnutrition in the year 2016 alone. Socialist Party Leader Maduro claimed the hospital’s website had been hacked, and the numbers were false, and swiftly fired the Health Minister and put the military in charge. The capital, Caracas, has become one of the most violent cities in the world. A government that was once dedicated to the innocent goal of eradicating income inequality, now has its people waiting in breadlines to eat trash. Tens of thousands of doctors have left the country, and hospitals lack the bare necessities to operate a functioning facility. Venezuela has become one of the most income equal societies in the Western Hemisphere, but does that matter to the people who are hunting zoo animals for dinner? The redistribution policies of Chavez and Maduro have destroyed the incentive for profit creation, suppressing any hopes for growth. Well informed on the chaos aforementioned, America’s chief diplomat Rex Tillerson has indicated a hard stance against the Socialist leader.

Rex Tillerson’s six day trip to Latin America this week began with aggressive rhetoric against Maduro’s Socialist Party. Tillerson, unfiltered in his language, encouraged a coup, stating “someone should get rid of these bad guys…”. Tillerson’s trip is motivated by reassuring Latin American countries not to fear Trump’s style, and build a coalition to help oust Maduro. Perhaps raising ethical concerns, Tillerson may have a personal vendetta against Maduro, since Chavez nationalized Exxon’s assets in Venezuela while Tillerson was their CEO. Nonetheless, citing President Trump’s alleged position, Tillerson has advocated for a new set of sanctions on Venezuela to encourage a free and fair election in April and hopefully oust Maduro. This would not be the first round of sanctions imposed by the Trump administration. Upon being elected in 2016, Trump imposed sanctions on many top officials, including Maduro himself, in an effort to curb the human-rights violations taking place. A new round of sanctions would place even greater pressure on Maduro, and hopefully fuel an uprising by the brave people of Venezuela who have been through hell over the last several years. As small caribbean nations, who rely on Maduro for oil, begin to look elsewhere, his short list of allies will begin to diminish. Specifically, these sanctions will restrict exports and imports of Venezuelan oil. The people of Venezuela deserve to return to competitive prosperity. The atrocities of child malnutrition must end. And if sanctions on oil could end this nightmare quicker, it is worth the risk. By idly watching, we are enabling Maduro to continue these atrocities, further catalyzing the chaos that already exists.








Kohut, Meredith, and Isayen Herrera. “As Venezuela Collapses, Children Are Dying of Hunger.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/17/world/americas/venezuela-children-starving.html.