Russia’s threat of war against Ukraine, and possibly against NATO, is a powerplay that President Vladimir Putin has been nurturing for years. Now, with an unthinkable but convenient alliance with China, he is striving to undermine U.S. national security in the Western Hemisphere, cozying up to anti-democratic regimes in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
His moves to support the Cuban regime and Nicolas Maduro’s criminal government (cartel) in Venezuela with military equipment and supplies have been well documented.
But how will the U.S. and its global allies react to the growing and ominous new “Iron Curtain” and “Axis of Evil” that Putin has created?
Republican congressional lawmakers blame Russia’s aggression and influence in the Western Hemisphere on President Biden, while Democrats contend that former President Trump is at fault.
“The Biden Administration is failing to make our Hemisphere a priority, and leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean have spent the past year cozying up to our adversaries in Beijing, Moscow, and Tehran as a result,” said Senator Marco Rubio in a statement to The Floridian. “ This administration believes it's completely fine to ignore our closest neighbors. It’s naive and dangerous. The United States has to start offering real solutions to assist our partners in the Western Hemisphere — our national security and the stability of our neighbors depend on it.”
For her part, Rep. Wasserman Schultz (D), who represents the largest population of Venezuelans in South Florida, defended the Biden Administration’s tactics against Russia’s “misinformation” campaign against Western nations, while warning that Russia’s aggression in Ukraine could lead to Putin deploying military forces to Venezuela.
Wasserman Schultz lives in Weston, Florida, which has been dubbed “Westonzuela” because of the large Venezuelan population that resides there.
“President Biden and his administration are taking a proactive approach to debunking Russian disinformation. And instead of letting this false narrative propagate and spread, the Biden administration calls them out for what they are: lies,” said Rep. Wasserman Schultz.
Experts agree that, at this point, U.S.-imposed sanctions against the criminal Maduro regime have not achieved what they were intended to do, they have actually emboldened the dictator and his cronies. “Venezuelan oil exports have greatly increased this year [2021], calling into question the overarching goal of limiting oil revenue for Nicolas Maduro’s regime,” said Jeremy Martin, vice president for Energy & Sustainability at the Institute of the Americas, and David Voght, managing director at IPD Latin America in an oped in The Hill penned in December 2021. “In a textbook example of unintended consequences, sanctions have cut off western companies from their operations, effectively channeling their revenue directly into the Maduro government’s coffers.”
Venezuelan economist Asdrubal Oliveros sees this trend increasing if current oil prices continue as they are now, and Venezuelan oil production remains the same. He projects that “the Maduro government in 2022 would get 70 percent more revenues for crude sales than what it got in 2021,” he twitted this past February 15.
Martin and Voght also argue that ”the Maduro government has become quite skillful at avoiding, if not completely dodging, current sanctions.” Russia, Turkey, and especially China and Iran, have been crucial allies in “using phantom traders to move crude with untraceable ships routed from Venezuela to China.”
Additionally, sanctions appear to have furthered the Maduro-created humanitarian crisis, sinking Venezuela into a deeper poverty-stricken state.
Maduro has consistently violated sanctions with the help of these non-democratic actors and has expanded the illegal economy fueled by illegal mining, gold contraband, and drug trafficking, benefiting not only his cronies but criminal/terrorist organizations like FARC.
Rep. Michael Waltz (R), the former U.S. Army Green Beret and foreign policy expert, questioned the Biden administration’s approach to Venezuela.
“The Biden Administration is paralyzed. They would like to retreat from the Trump sanctions, yet due to the Congressional losses in South Florida last cycle, they are terrified to do anything that’ll make them look weak in the face of socialism. As a result, we are in the worst possible position: doing nothing,” said Rep. Waltz in a statement.
But while both Republicans and Democrats play the blame game, both sides agree that the threat that Russia and China pose to the U.S. and the rest of the world cannot be ignored.
Rep. Wasserman Schultz outlines Russia’s power grab around the world.
“Russia has been using propaganda and disinformation to undermine democracy and exploiting wedges between the United States and our allies. So it's no surprise that President Putin would do that now in Eastern Europe,” said Rep.Wasserman Schultz, while adding, “I represent many Venezuelan Colombian and Cuban constituents. And so I'm particularly concerned about Russia's attempts to assert influence in Latin America. In recent years, Russia has sold weapons and tanks to Cuba and Nicaragua and aircraft and anti-missile systems to Venezuela and this also held bilateral military exercises with Venezuela. And this is especially concerning given that senior Russian officials recently suggested that interference by the United States or NATO in Ukraine could prompt the deployment of Russian forces to Cuba or Venezuela.”
