Venezuelan dictator reigns with impunity despite US sanctions

Over the last few years, Venezuela has become a failed state. The president-turned-dictator, Nicolas Maduro, has slowly but surely hammered nails in the coffin of Venezuelan democracy. He’s done this with total impunity.

When the democratic opposition won free and fair elections and a clear majority in the National Assembly, Maduro responded as any other dictator would: He filled the Supreme Court with his cronies and removed all powers from the opposition-led legislative branch.

He cancelled the constitutionally-binding presidential recall referendum, as he correctly feared the results would bring him his one-way ticket out of the presidency. Now, he is threatening to rewrite the constitution in the next few weeks to enshrine his authoritarian rule. He’s doing all of this with total impunity. 

{mosads}While this political pantomime plays out, an economic nightmare has plagued the country. Triple-digit inflation rates, mass unemployment, food shortages, a broken health system and chaotic violence have left even the most ardent Chavistas questioning how long Maduro can hold on. His economic mismanagement, nationalization and expropriations have strangled private enterprise and gutted a once rich economy.

Venezuela, a country awash in oil and natural resources, is now an economic backwater. So even though his vice president has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department, President Maduro — backed and surrounded by narco-terrorists — is simply allowed to continue with impunity.

On the backdrop of this economic, social and political malaise, the people of Venezuela have taken to the streets. They are protesting the simple fact that they have no food, no medicine and no democracy. In fact, when the country is run by a corrupt mafia involved in transnational crimes such as drug trafficking, financing of terrorism, and money laundering, the people of Venezuela also have no future. It is time to say no to impunity, it is time for justice. 

In six months since taking office, the Trump administration has been more active in applying targeted economic sanctions to Venezuelan officials involved in drug trafficking, the financing of terrorism, money laundering and the abuse of human rights than his predecessor. Indeed, earlier this month, it came out that Obama had stopped an investigation into links between Iran, Venezuela and the terrorist organization Hezbollah.

Thankfully, the noises emanating from the Trump administration, at least on Venezuela, have been drastically different from its predecessor. Trump has called on the Maduro government repeatedly to free all political prisoners, respect the autonomy of the National Assembly and call for free and fair elections to end the crisis. Noises, however, are not enough. 

Sanctions, as previously noted, have been placed on Vice President Tareck El Aissami. Designated by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Feb. 13 as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker for playing a significant role in international narcotics trafficking, El Aissami is known to have facilitated shipments of narcotics from Venezuela.

In his previous positions, he oversaw or partially owned narcotics shipments of over 1,000 kilograms from Venezuela on multiple occasions, including those with final destinations of Mexico and the United States.
 

On May 17, eight Venezuelan Supreme Court justices were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury. Indeed, over the last month, we’ve heard reports that suggest that Trump’s administration is considering “sectoral” targets against the Venezuelan oil industry, responsible for 95 percent of the country’s revenue. This would be a very positive step. 

Following Sunday’s massive unofficial vote in which 7.5 million Venezuelans rejected Maduro’s plan to rewrite the constitution, Trump said his administration would take “strong and swift economic actions” if Maduro ignored the people’s will.

So it is with great optimism that we learned Tuesday that the administration is preparing sanctions against other Venezuelan officials, including Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez and leader of the ruling Socialist Party, Diosdado Cabello.

Padrino Lopez is one of the most powerful officials in the Maduro regime. Maduro’s strategy has been to provide the military with power and economic control of the country in exchange for protection and loyalty. Targeting Padrino Lopez means the U.S. administration is ready to hit the class that is protecting the dictatorship.

Padrino Lopez is also directly responsible for the deaths of scores of peaceful protestors at the hands of his security forces during the last 100 days of protests. National guardsmen under his command have openly and indiscriminately fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets against peaceful demonstrators.

Diosdado Cabello, another violent member of Maduro’s inner circle, is allegedly the head of the “Cartel of the Suns,” an organization of high-ranking members of the Armed Forces of Venezuela, notoriously involved in international drug dealing in cooperation with the notorious Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). 

Cabello also directs pro-government armed gangs, known as “colectivos,” that intimidate and even shoot demonstrators with total impunity. These thugs have also murdered a number of demonstrators in the last months.

However, while this too is a positive step, the main name is still not on the list. President Maduro, the greatest dictator in the Western Hemisphere, the man responsible for the only failed state in the Western Hemisphere, continues to act with total and utter impunity.

Martin Rodil is the president of the Washington-based Venezuelan American Leadership Council, which works to bring democracy to Venezuela.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.