Fidel Castro & Cuban Gov. Rally around Venezuela’s Maduro
HAVANA TIMES — The government of Cuba supported today Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro whose officials face sanctions from the Obama administration. Former President Fidel Castro also congratulated Maduro for standing up to the USA.
“Nobody has the right to intervene in the internal affairs of a sovereign state or to declare it as a threat to its national security without any grounds,” said the Cuban government in a text published today in the official newspaper “Granma”.
“How is Venezuela a threat to the United States? Thousands of miles away, without strategic weapons and without the resources or officials to plot against the US constitutional order, makes the accusations sound implausible and of little credibility,” adds the Cuban government.
For his part, the recently more active Cuban president Fidel Castro congratulated the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro for his “brilliant and courageous speech” about plans of the US government to impose sanctions on senior Venezuelan officials after declaring the country a “threat” to US national security.
“Your words will go down in history as proof that humanity can and must know the truth,” Castro said, referring to the speech made by Maduro on Monday from the Miraflores Palace in Caracas.
Declaring a country a national-security threat is a formality that allow the U.S. government to impose sanctions on individuals or other countries. The actual threats posed by Venezuela are real, but not in the simplistic sense mentioned above.
True, Venezuela does not pose a threat in the form of conventional military forces. But it is a threat, not only to the US but to the whole region, as an impending failed state. The Venezuelan economy is rapidly collapsing. Over the past few years, the Chavez & Maduro governments have armed large militia forces, including some of them criminal gangs operating in poor barrios. What will happen when the civil institutions, so thoroughly attacked and weakened by Chavez & Maduro, finally collapse entirely? Venezuela could be facing famine, civil war between armed gangs, militias, and narco-terrorist groups. The army, which has backed Maduro so far, could decide to seize power to stave of chaos. The Cuban government, which has tens of thousands of Cubans in Venezuela working in medical teams, as well as an estimated 4000 state security agents will act to protect their interests as well. The resulting civil war will send hundreds of thousands of refugees across the borders, destabilizing Venezuela’s neighbours.
Yes, the conditions in Venezuela certainly are a national security threat to the US.
Just got an email yesterday from a good friend in Caracas whom my wife and I are helping to save money in a US bank account. He said the street rate of exchange today for the Bolivar to USD was 285 to 1. Yes, that’s right, 285 not 185 to 1. The official government rate is 6.3 or 13 to 1. He said that there are lines to purchase milk, diapers, flour, etc. He is a medical professional and is having trouble finding the basic medical supplies for his private practice. He said things are very bad in Venezuela and he expects it to get worse.