The United States Treasury has sanctioned the Vice President of Venezuela. That means he cannot do business with the United States and no one can do business with the United States through him. In a top-heavy country like Venezuela, that means many people who would typically go through Vice President Tareck El Aissami now can’t do anything. That’s similar to our sanctions on Russia.
Here’s what happened.
Venezuela has been issues fake visas to America to Syrians. They’ve set up numerous offices to counterfeit and issue fake visas so that Syrians can enter the United States perhaps even with a stamp saying they’d been there before and other stamps that indicate a route they took to get there that doesn’t include Venezuela, so Venezuela can’t get caught in this scam. The concern, of course, is who is willing to participate in such a scam but people willing to do harm to the United States and perhaps other countries, as well. Certainly, we’re aware that terrorists use such methods and honest people tend to wait in the incredibly long and sometimes fatal line to even get an appointment for an immigration interview. Still, they wait because they want to follow the rules given the malicious alternatives.
Additionally, the United States has labeled the vice president as a drug kingpin. His U.S. assets are frozen, as the United States has said he is “significantly involved in” narcotrafficking. In other words, it’s bad.
Why does all this matter?
Besides the obvious drugs definitely and terrorists possibly entering the United States and territories of its allies, Venezuela is a broken-down country that needs serious help, and some countries providing help aren’t allied with the United States.
Russia gave them a loan! Yep, another one of those plans by Russia and China to give crippling loans and then renegotiate by saying you don’t have to pay in cash but can pay in land and perhaps a military base if the creditor is feeling bold enough to ask. While China is doing this in Sri Lanka or other Asian countries, it’s much more significant when Russia or China, in this case, Russia, is doing something similar only a few hours flying time away from the capital of the United States and, seriously, only a couple hours from Miami.
Venezuela owes Russia money and may not be able to pay. Who cares?! Well, Venezuela owns Citgo. Yes, the gas station. Venezuela used Citgo as COLLATERAL for the loan from Russia. If Venezuela doesn’t pay, Russia owns Citgo, which is only 8% of U.S. daily consumption of oil, 13.4% of consumption in the 29 states and D.C. where it operates, and more than that when you consider it only has a few gas stations in several of those states. Therefore, a few states could see gas prices skyrocket. Why not have those prices skyrocket right before an election or perhaps drop, depending on the candidate who is talking about it and whether Russia wants that candidate to win?
Let’s not forget that Venezuela doesn’t like the United States. Perhaps this collateral was chosen because, if they can’t pay Russia, at least they can screw over the United Sates.
Let’s also not forget that Venezuela is very close to Cuba, where the United States has only ONE military base, and they’re downsizing it. Now, improving relations with Cuba could help, but we’re going to need to fight back against Venezuela if ever they get dominated by a Russian military presence. Venezuela is not just in South America but actually the most northern country in South America. So, it’s pretty close to the United States.
Backing off from militarization for just a second, what I see is a clear ability to manipulate United States oil markets in a few states significantly and several more in a way that will definitely hurt a few million citizens gradually. We’ve seen that nonmilitary action has supplanted conventional military activity as the new way to hurt a country, and this is certainly one way to do it. The new enemy is not the U.S. military but the U.S. citizen, and any small rise in oil prices will directly affect them.
China also has strong interests in giving loans and “assistance” to countries that align with its interests and have so many vulnerabilities that they’re easy to manipulate. Venezuela is a great candidate. They also have connections and bilateral agreements with Brazil that dominate over most other countries’ involvements there. Given the unstable economy there and China’s already huge presence on the ground, it’s clear we may need to soon know how to say conquistador in Mandarin. China is also interested in building a canal to replace the Panama Canal, and it’s clear they’d give preferential access to its allies and harsh terms of entry to anyone they want cripple. They definitely have patience in their pursuits against their enemies. The United States has the most powerful military in the world and nearly 25 allies with more power than China. Therefore, you can’t beat them. You essentially have to employ death by a thousand pin pricks, which is something the Chinese are patient enough to do.
In short, China and Russia may look to partner in Venezuela in ten to fifteen year’s time, as well.
Now, China has seriously expanded not just economically but also in their military assets now spanning nearly the entire globe. The vast majority of their assets are small, and they only have one overseas base (in Djibouti). However, Venezuela, Colombia, and Argentina have discussed allowing Chinese naval and other military supply stations in Latin America.
I hope Trump understands this. Certain countries are getting stronger. They say they are in favor of a “multipolar” world because they want to gain power. Once they do, they’ll try to shift toward a multipolar world that excludes their enemies. Eventually they will eat away at each other’s powers because they are bent on manipulation and control. Before then, it’ll get worse in the West but better eventually.
Personally, I think we should economic sanctions in some places and only where we can and military action elsewhere. While most people are against military action, the reality is, especially in North Korea and Syria, we have no choice. In Venezuela, economic sanctions will be fine. The challenge then becomes economic assistance from China and its allies. We can’t abandon the countries we sanction. We need to support their citizens even if we’re sanctioning key government officials or businesses. Otherwise, China will come in and bribe them into cutting further ties with the United States and into allowing China to have further military ties with them. It’s a tough road, but that’s because China wants it to be that way. We need to disentangle ourselves from them. It may get worse before it gets better, but we have to do it. We should have done it a decade ago.