ICYMI: Biden would be wrong to support the tyrant in Venezuela to fight the tyrant in Russia | Opinion
ICYMI: Biden would be wrong to support the tyrant in Venezuela to fight the tyrant in Russia | Opinion
Op-Ed: Mario Diaz-Balart
March 9, 2022
Excerpts below; read the full op-ed in the Miami Herald HERE.
If the Biden administration agrees to weaken sanctions against the murderous and anti-American Maduro dictatorship, it would shamelessly betray the Venezuelan people and the cause of freedom, as well as the national security interests of the United States. Instead, the United States must pursue a policy that puts American values first, rather than trading one type of blood oil for another.
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I challenge anyone to decipher a consistent foreign policy of the Biden administration unless it is a policy that prefers to enrich ruthless dictators over domestic energy sources. Just like the disastrous Iran deal from the Obama administration, the Venezuela and current Iran negotiations are held in secret because they are immensely unpopular. In fact, they are an embarrassment. Yet incomprehensibly, the Biden administration is nonetheless negotiating deals with them.
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With the power the world has given him, Putin has weaponized energy, and now Western nations are attempting to disentangle themselves from the web they helped weave. Let’s not put ourselves in that position with Iran and Venezuela. We must pursue a policy of ironclad sanctions that prioritizes U.S. national security interests, human rights and freedom, rather than securing a bad deal with a different devil.
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