OPINION:
President Trump took the world by storm when the U.S. military went into Venezuela and seized President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The U.S. Army’s elite Delta Force carried out the shock operation, which has drawn praise from many Venezuelans and onlookers as well as condemnation from some U.S. allies.
Regardless of where various cohorts stand on the decision to seize the Maduros and take control of the South American country, there are some important facts that must be properly understood about the conditions inside Venezuela.
Too often, Westerners improperly see the world through our own lenses, breeding miscalculations, misunderstandings, incorrect rhetoric and improper conclusions.
Many Americans imbue their own experience on other nations and assume everyone lives with the same freedoms U.S. citizens enjoy. But such a perspective leads to a lack of context needed to fully comprehend human suffering, rights violations and why Mr. Trump’s actions were taken.
Some critics immediately denounced the president’s decision to neutralize Mr. Maduro. Yet headlines throughout the press highlighted how Venezuelans in the U.S. were celebrating the dictator’s ouster.
Many even took to the streets to passionately explain why they supported Mr. Trump’s moves.
“Thank you, Lord, thank you president of the United States,” one woman identified as Yajaira told NBC News. “I’ve been waiting for years — [Maduro has] done so much damage. This has been horrible.”
Another woman named Diana Moner told the outlet that the Jan. 3 capture will mean “freedom” for Venezuelans.
Clearly, there was a reason for such joy and optimism. So let’s pull back the curtain a bit on life under Mr. Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, to better understand why so many see Mr. Trump’s actions as offering a pathway to liberty.
The Council on Foreign Relations noted that Chavez’s rise to power in 1999 and his three presidential terms led many critics to conclude that Venezuela was increasingly starting to “resemble an authoritarian state.”
The nation had languished and struggled for years even before Chavez’s ascension, yet his foray into leadership didn’t halt the chaos. He faced many questions about corruption throughout his rule, and his relationship with America quickly frayed.
By 2005, the decades-long military relationship between the U.S. and Venezuela was axed by Chavez, with his anti-American rhetoric further separating the nations. Meanwhile, his relationships with Cuba, Iran, Russia and China were growing.
Internally, claims of human rights abuses were rampant. In fact, after Chavez’s death in 2013, Human Rights Watch proclaimed that his tenure was marked by “open disregard for basic human rights guarantees.”
“By his second full term in office, the concentration of power and erosion of human rights protections had given the government free rein to intimidate, censor and prosecute Venezuelans who criticized the president or thwarted his political agenda,” a Human Rights Watch report read.
The chaos and reprisals only worsened under Mr. Maduro. Venezuelans were increasingly fleeing to the U.S. in the early 2000s, but when Mr. Maduro took over in 2013, NBC News reports that the “situation deteriorated drastically.”
Venezuela has the world’s largest known oil supply and yet, under Mr. Maduro, the economy has faced collapse, with 80% of residents suffering in poverty. Some estimates note that about 8 million people have fled Venezuela since 2014.
Plus, the 2024 election, in which Mr. Maduro was declared the victor, was disputed, with Human Rights Watch noting massive repression of dissenting voices.
But it apparently went well beyond reprisal, with a sweeping attempt before the election to stop any coups — an effort that included detaining journalists, political opponents, military members and others suspected of potentially challenging the ruling party.
And after the election, Human Rights Watch noted that mostly peaceful protesters were targeted with “violence and widespread abuses, including killings, arbitrary detention and prosecution, and harassment of critics.”
You mix this with claims of torture, improper detention, unfair trials and a lack of free speech, and it’s no wonder 8 million people fled this incalculably cruel regime.
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a body assembled by the United Nations to explore human rights abuses in Venezuela, put out a statement in recent days affirming these horrors.
“In light of the U.S. military intervention and the apprehension of Nicolas Maduro on — according to the US administration — charges of ‘narco-terrorism against the United States and its citizens,’ the Fact-Finding Mission underscores the need to maintain the focus on the grave human rights violations and crimes against humanity which have been committed against the Venezuelan population,” Marta Valinas, chair of the Fact-Finding Mission, said in a statement.
Regardless of where one stands, it’s clear Venezuela has been a hellscape for many. While the future there is unclear, it’s understandable why so many see Mr. Trump’s actions as opening an opportunity for true peace and freedom.
Let’s pray the Venezuelan people can cling to these ideals.
• Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN’s “Quick Start Podcast.” Mr. Hallowell is also the author of four books.
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