Nicolás Maduro's declared election victory has been met with skepticism and criticism. Victoria Coates discusses Venezuela's disputed election and the ramifications for the region and U.S. foreign policy. Get the facts first on Morning Wire.
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(upbeat music) - Since socialist dictator Nicholas Maduro came to power in Venezuela, the once prosperous country has seen crushing declines in oil revenues, dire shortages of essential goods, and hyperinflation topping 100,000%. And that sent migrants flooding throughout the region and to the U.S. - This week, the Venezuelan government declared Maduro the winner of a contested presidential election, but the opposition party in U.S. officials say this supposed victory is a sham. In this episode, we talk with a foreign policy expert about the disputed election, the Biden administration's role in it in what a second Trump term might mean for Venezuela's future. I'm daily wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Hal. It's August 3rd, and this is a Saturday edition of Morning Wire. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Since 1974, Saudi Arabia has sold oil solely in U.S. dollars, which was paramount to the dollar's strength and stability, but not anymore. That's why you gotta get in touch with the experts over at Birch Gold today. Right now, qualifying purchases will get you a one-of-a-kind limited edition golden truth bomb. The only way to claim your eligibility though is by texting wire to 989898. Text wire to 989898 for a free, no obligation info kit on gold, and to get your hands on that limited edition golden truth bomb today. - An excerpt of this interview aired earlier this week. The following is the full interview. Joining us to discuss the massively controversial election in Venezuela and the U.S. response to it is Victoria Coates, Vice President of National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation. Victoria, thank you so much for coming on. - Of course, happy to do it. - First, what are some of the reasons that this election is being called into question? - Well, there's a long and undistinguished history of election interference from the Chavez and Maduro regimes in Venezuela. Venezuela had been a flourishing democracy historically. That's what the people of Venezuela are used to. And the Maduro regime has followed their regular playbook of shutting polling places early, kicking out the inspectors, and manufacturing a completely incredible vote count that he won in a landslide when all exit polls indicate the reverse. - The opposition has put forward significant evidence of just complete unabashed voter fraud. I mean, they don't even really try to hide it at this point. So I don't think there's anyone, even Maduro himself, that would argue that this was a free and fair election. - And how have U.S. officials reacted to Maduro's self-declared victory? - Well, the Biden-Harris administration has reacted with rhetoric. They say they stand with the people of Venezuela, but that's not particularly credible 'cause they're the ones who set this up, about 10 months ago, they made a deal essentially with Maduro that they would lift some of the sanctions, particularly on his energy sector, if he would allow a fair election, which he agreed to, they lifted the sanctions and he immediately reneged on the deal and kicked the most popular opposition figure, Maria Corinna Machado, off the ticket, wouldn't let her run. And the administration did nothing. They want that dirty Venezuelan crude on the U.S. market to keep gas prices here low. So I think the only actual response will come out of Congress and they'll try to look at perhaps a way they can re-impose sanctions on Venezuela. - To be clear, the administration took no real action at all to hold Maduro accountable to punish his regime in any way. - No, they didn't do a thing. The sanctions remain at least partially listed. They did not re-impose them with any teeth whatsoever and they've just allowed this to happen. So I think we have to take, you know, the rhetoric of solidarity with the people of Venezuela with the grain of salt, just as we took Obama's words about standing in solidarity with the people of Iran during the Green Revolution in 2009, they proved absolutely empty. - Now, Maduro has become very cozy with several U.S. adversaries. What is really at stake here? - Well, I mean, in many ways, John, it just, it comes down to energy. It comes down to oil. Venezuela is a significant producer. They could produce a lot more if they weren't so corrupt and had paid any attention to their infrastructure. So they're getting very, very cozy with Russia, which has been a historical partner to both the Chavez and Maduro regimes. They're very, very close with China, but their most important relationship is actually with Cuba. And so they create this kind of nexus of anti-American actors. And we can't forget at this point, actually the Iranians as well, the now deceased Iranian president, Raisi, visited. Venezuela, you might wonder, why do the Iranians need to go to Venezuela? Well, it means that they're plotting together against the United States. And Iran's terrorist proxy Hezbollah has also historically had a strong presence in Venezuela. - Could you give our listeners some background on Venezuela? When did Maduro take power? Who was challenging him? What led to the violence? - Well, really it was a handover from Hugo Chavez who was in power in Venezuela for about 20 years and the 90s and the first decade of this century. And eventually he died of cancer in Cuba and handed power to Nicolas Maduro, who was his sort of henchmen's strong man. So there was nobody challenging Maduro in that transition of power. That was all set up by Hugo Chavez, who was a communist dictator of Venezuela. And he exploited Venezuela's, Chavez did, Venezuela's historic democracy to get in on a kind of a populist platform and then just consolidated power and became a dictator. And so that's how a once great partner to the United States, when it should be with the wealthiest country in Latin America, given its resources, wonderful people, the thriving culture, I mean, it's just, it's a crime. What communism has done to that beautiful country and taken a great partner to the United States and turned it into an adversary. - And during his reign, we've seen a massive collapse like you just referenced economically the worst in 45 years for a country that's not in the midst of a war. What's been the effect of this economic failure on Venezuelans? - Oh, it's just been brutal. The inflation is completely off the charts. The currency is basically valueless. I mean, there is income from oil sales, but it's much, much less than it should be. And what the money that does come in is very susceptible to corruption. It's not being spent on the people. And the result of all of this is of course massive migration. Venezuela is one of the top countries sending illegal migrants to the United States. And that's why, again, it's a little rich to hear the vice president, to talk about her solidarity with these people when her partnership with their dictator is what is causing the economic misery that then results in these waves of migration. So people are just desperate to get out. They've been going into Colombia in huge numbers and then passing through to Costa Rica, which is under tremendous strain from, I believe it's somewhere close to 9 million people who have come through Costa Rica. So it's a disastrous situation and then becomes more than just a problem in our hemisphere. It becomes a national security problem for the United States when you have this wave of illegal migration coming into our country. - What is Venezuela's relationship like with other countries in the region now? - Well, they're definitely a problem child. And what was interesting in the lead up to this quote unquote election is that traditional partners of Maduro, like Alula in Brazil, came out and said, "Hey, you can't do this. "You cannot steal this election this blatantly "and still be considered any kind of a democracy." So the relationship with Colombia has traditionally been quite fraught. The leader of Colombia, Petro is much more pro-Miduro than his predecessors. So that has been a closer relationship, but again, still problematic. And so then as well as in many ways turning into kind of the black sheep of Latin America, which again is ironic, given it should be in a leadership position. - Now, speaking of regime change, if Donald Trump wins in November and we see a second Trump administration, could we see a significant change in the relationship with Venezuela and what might that look like? - I think you could anticipate a much stronger stance. The former President Trump is very aware of the potential value of a good relationship with Venezuela. He wants to see that. But I think he's pretty clear, it can't come under its current leadership, particularly after the events of this weekend. So I think he would see him taking a kind of double-pronged approach on the one hand. He would put very strong sanctions back on Venezuela and energy exports in an effort to really starve Maduro of resources. And then of course, expand U.S. domestic production to make up for that reduction in the market. And the other thing we have, John, that we haven't before, is a really credible leader of the opposition. In Maria Carina Machado, she has been able to unify the opposition as none of her predecessors have. And I think if you can really support her and get to a situation where Maduro is in some way forced to agree because of the economic pressure on him, to letting her actually stand for election, you have somebody who maybe is not gonna be the George Washington of Venezuela, but can be a very credible political voice commanding a lot of popular support. And that's something we'd simply haven't had before. And I think would be a really interesting opportunity to a future Trump administration. - Do you think that could actually happen? I mean, how much pressure would they have to put on for somebody like Maduro to actually stand aside and allow the process to take place effectively knowing that he's resigning his position? - Yeah, I think what it would ultimately take would be the defection in the armed services 'cause that's how he stays in power is through the kind of Chinese designed surveillance regime that he has control over the internet, which is something that we should think about very seriously is this something we could supply to the opposition in Venezuela, some kind of free untraceable internet access, but Maduro still has the loyalty of the armed services. It's hard to see quite how you do it, but that's not inevitable. And especially if he is starved of the funds to pay them and you could see a change. And stranger things have happened. We had a revolution in Iran in 1979. That certainly didn't go our way, but these things do happen. So it would be very much hoped that the threats Maduro has made of violence would not come to pass and that this could be done in a very targeted, strategic, diplomatic and economic lane. And then I think then that would hinge on the actions of the army. - As you say, these things do happen. Victoria, thank you so much for joining us. - Of course, thank you very much. - That was the Heritage Foundation's Victoria Coats and this has been a Saturday edition of Morningwire. (upbeat music) - Have you ever heard of a data broker? They're the middleman collecting and selling all those digital footprints you leave online. You might be surprised to learn that some data brokers are not just selling your information to advertisers, but to organizations like the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS. So protect your online privacy today by visiting expressvpn.com/wire. That's eXPR ESS VPN.com/wire and you can get the extra three months free. expressvpn.com/wire today.
Nicolás Maduro's declared election victory has been met with skepticism and criticism. Victoria Coates discusses Venezuela's disputed election and the ramifications for the region and U.S. foreign policy. Get the facts first on Morning Wire.
Birch Gold: Text "WIRE" to 989898 for your no-cost, no-obligation information kit.
