LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR  A DAILY PUBLICATION OF THE INTERAMERICAN  DIALOGUE

www.thedialogue.org   Friday, August 21, 2020

 QUESTION: The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has increased sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government in recent years in an effort to pressure Maduro to step down. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who is seeking to unseat Trump in the November presidential election, has also voiced support for tougher Venezuela-related sanctions and, like the Trump administration, has expressed support for opposition leader Juan Guaidó, whom the United States recognizes as Venezuela’s legitimate interim president. But, unlike Trump, Biden has said he will extend Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, to Venezuelans. If Biden is elected president, how would he change U.S. policy on Venezuela? How would Biden’s actions on Venezuela affect the South American country and Maduro’s hold on it? What influence would Kamala Harris, Biden’s running mate, have on U.S. policy toward Venezuela as vice president?

REPLY:Diego Arria member of the Advisor board, and former permanent, representative of Venezuela to the United Nations:

No previous U.S. president has been more committed and helpful in the efforts to rescue our freedom than Trump...”

“To provide some context: No previous U.S. president has been more committed and helpful in the efforts to rescue our freedom than Trump, and so far, U.S policy toward Venezuela has been bipartisan, and I trust it will continue to be regardless of the electoral outcome. However, Biden’s comments to go back to Obama’s openings toward Cuba is of real concern to us, because Cuba is the real dominant power of Venezuela. It controls its intelligence services, security and even military forces, as well as foreign policy, so it should be clear to all that opening doors to Cuba would mean closing doors for freedom in Venezuela. It is true that providing Temporary Protected Status for the Venezuelan diaspora is very important, but not more so than to continue exercising maximum pressure to remove Maduro’s narco-tyranny, a real threat not limited to destroying Venezuela, but also the whole region, including the United States. Somehow, Maduro and his band of thugs, as well as its ‘allies’—China, Russia, Iran, Turkey and Cuba—are rooting for Biden, convinced that were he to win, it would guarantee Maduro’s permanence in power. Somehow such hope is shared by other radical forces looking to change the political situation in countries such as Brazil, Colombia and Chile. For the first time, a U.S. presidential election could have real consequences in our region.”

— Diego Arria