US support for regime change in Venezuela is a mistake

[Judi Lynn]

US support for regime change in Venezuela is a mistake

The US push to topple the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro once again pits Washington against South America

Mark Weisbrot
theguardian.com, Tuesday 18 February 2014 07.30 EST

When is it considered legitimate to try and overthrow a democratically-elected government? In Washington, the answer has always been simple: when the US government says it is. Not surprisingly, that's not the way Latin American governments generally see it.

On Sunday, the Mercosur governments (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Venezuela) released a statement on the past week's demonstrations in Venezuela. They described "the recent violent acts" in Venezuela as "attempts to destabilize the democratic order". They made it abundantly clear where they stood.

The governments stated:

their firm commitment to the full observance of democratic institutions and, in this context, [they] reject the criminal actions of violent groups that want to spread intolerance and hatred in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as a political tool.

We may recall that when much larger demonstrations rocked Brazil last year, there were no statements from Mercosur or neighboring governments. That's not because they didn't love President Dilma Rousseff; it's because these demonstrations did not seek to topple Brazil's democratically-elected government.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/18/venezuela-protests-us-support-regime-change-mistake

[Coyotl]

1. Mark Weisbrot?

Where is this US support? Venezuela is a democracy and the US must respect that. Cowboy Reagan days are long over.

[msongs]

2. sorry, the USA is killing people all over the planet using multiple methods including drones nt

[Coyotl]

4. HELLO! Even that does no mean the present administration supports overthrowing democracies.

I know DUies like to throw mud at Obama, but this does not stick.

[roody]

5. Obama supported it in Honduras.

[sabrina 1]

6. It's US policy. Didn't you know that? Yes, we were hoping for a different policy, but then there

was Honduras and Libya and drones in Pakistan and Yemen and Africa, Somalia and on and on.

We will not stop trying to go back to the old Reagan days in Latin America. I had hoped but when Chavez offered has hand in Friendship to Obama, also believing, like us, that those bad old days were over now, especially after the Bush years starting with the attempted coup. US policy has not changed regarding Venezuela or any other Latin American country. But it will be harder this time because Latin America has had some time to set up infrastructure across the region, KNOWING they can no longer depend on each individual country defending itself against a return to the days when the Western Imperial powers supported and backed Dictators, like Pinnochet. They KNOW the threat didn't go away, and good for them for standing up for each other when the see the signs once again.

[joshcryer]

3. The US should obviously STFU.