[H-PAD] Letter to WOLA on Venezuela

Tue Feb 26 15:16:05 PST 2019

Members and friends of Historians for Peace and Democracy,

We are circulating the following open letter asking the Washington 
Office on Latin America (WOLA) to reconsider its stance in favor of 
US-led regime change in Venezuela. If you would like to sign this 
letter, please contact Dan Beeton <beeton at cepr.net> by COB tomorrow 
(Wednesday, February 27).

If you are in need to more information on the current situation on 
Venezuela, see the excellent syllabus drafted in part by H-Pad member 
Kevin Young at 
http://afreesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/HandsOffVenezuela_ofsReader2.pdf

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To the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA):

We write out of concern for the direction that WOLA has taken with 
regard to a matter of life and death, and possibly war and peace, in 
Latin America. This letter is an attempt to engage with WOLA about your 
support for various components of the Trump administration’s efforts to 
topple the government of Venezuela.

We believe that the Trump administration’s regime change effort in 
Venezuela is wrong in every way: morally, legally, and politically. 
Since war has been openly threatened 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=FUT5CbrdODg%2BAGNbX375GIRFR39DlZsK> 
repeatedly by Trump himself and his top officials, this effort also runs 
a high risk in terms of the loss of human life and limb, and other 
unforeseen consequences of war and political violence.

For these reasons and more, WOLA should oppose this regime change effort 
unequivocally, just as progressives throughout the world opposed the 
Iraq War of 2003. But it has not done so. Rather, it has endorsed much 
of it. People may have differing personal opinions regarding the 
internal politics of Venezuela or how Venezuelans might best resolve 
their differences. But there is no doubt that the Trump administration’s 
illegal regime change operation is greatly worsening the situation and 
should be opposed by all who care about human life and international law.

Most dangerous is WOLA’s opposition to the offers of mediation by Pope 
Francis as well as the neutral governments of Mexico and Uruguay. WOLA 
has referred 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=0jRtsZqz2P2O3ertSMV%2BM4RFR39DlZsK>to 
these offers ― which have been called the Montevideo mechanism ― as a 
“non-starter.” Instead, WOLA has chosen the European Contact Group, 
which is dominated by Washington and governments allied with its illegal 
sanctions and regime change effort, as the only legitimate place for 
negotiations to take place.

Since the Trump administration clearly has no desire to negotiate, and 
has openly stated 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=TIIAHmgqFb%2BsmUPpFmHW0YRFR39DlZsK> 
this, WOLA’s choice implies that there will be no real negotiations 
until the other (European and Latin American) governments in the group 
are willing to make a clean break with Washington. This is not 
impossible, but it is unlikely in the foreseeable future. WOLA’s choice 
of a Trump-dominated negotiating group therefore aids Trump and his team 
of extremists (John Bolton, Marco Rubio, and Elliott Abrams), in their 
rejection of dialogue or negotiation.

WOLA evenrejects 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=2y6HubZXiJfohJd9ABIY8IRFR39DlZsK> 
the involvement of the UN in negotiations, which the UN 
Secretary-General Antonio Guterreshas proposed 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=IDD9D93m%2B9gznMpWUk9SD4RFR39DlZsK>, 
claiming that their role should be limited to overseeing a transition. 
The UN is the international body that has accumulated themost experience 
and knowledge 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=0zz7Q9rbBhKTL7m8MwR%2BgoRFR39DlZsK> 
in mediating inter- and intra-national crises. This includes 
successfully mediating the end to even seemingly intractable civil wars, 
such asin El Salvador 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=iaBVtNTBuQcwtUFcYwb9F4RFR39DlZsK> 
in the 1990s. This expertise, alongside the moral authority the UN has 
as the most representative international body, means that a mediation 
process overseen by them would carry much more legitimacy than one led 
by the Trump administration and its political allies.

WOLA has been ambiguous 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=jeY5WUOsw1yBL5sCOjr0M4RFR39DlZsK> 
about whether it supports the recognition of Juan Guaidó as “interim 
president,” a move that automatically creates a trade embargo on top of 
the current financial embargo. This is because the source of almost all 
of the country’s foreign exchange is from oil exports, about 
three-quarters of which goes to countries that have joined the Trump 
recognition of a parallel government, and therefore will not be expected 
to pay the current government of Venezuela for its oil.^[1] <#_ftn1>

This will deprive the economy of billions of dollars of foreign 
exchange, thus accelerating the increase in mortality 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qp9ZnZPQ1%2BWIYu1mDZ%2FZIoRFR39DlZsK> 
(including infant and child mortality) from lack of medicines and health 
care, as well as worsening shortages of food ― an impact that is widely 
acknowledged. This is profoundly immoral. It also breaches international 
law, includingArticle 19 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=yNUifySXo6eE%2FgyCPgku5YRFR39DlZsK> 
of the OAS Charter, the UN charter, andmany other international treaties 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=V1ofDPFuGwKu90Y%2FIbtDP4RFR39DlZsK> 
that the US has signed.

WOLA has also taken an ambivalent position 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=sC884FSsKArGrbE4dwoi5IRFR39DlZsK> 
on the August 2017 Trump sanctions, offering some criticisms but also 
offering suggestions for improvement. These sanctions imposed an illegal 
(for the same reasons as above) financial embargo that has been 
devastating, crippling oil production 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Xt%2FUS%2BYZ%2BGmnZmQp3Y0Bu4RFR39DlZsK> 
and thereby depriving the economy of billions of dollars for foreign 
exchange needed for vital imports. It also prevented any debt 
restructuring, as well as most other measures that would be necessary to 
exit from the country’s depression and hyperinflation.

WOLA defended 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=jlmT23MLRZ4HYz9zCLzUV4RFR39DlZsK> 
these sanctions by arguing that “they complicate the Maduro government’s 
finances in such a way that they will not have an immediate impact on 
the population (although in the longer term, they likely would).” This 
is false, as anyone familiar with the sanctions and the Venezuelan 
economy knows. The Venezuelan economy ― not just the government ― 
depends on oil exports for almost the entirety of its foreign exchange. 
That is what pays for imports of medicine, food, and other vital 
necessities ― whether from government or the private sector.

These positions are not defensible from a human point of view, and 
neither is the Trump administration’s apparent goal of extra-legal 
regime change. Why does the Trump team reject negotiation? Because they 
do not want a compromise solution which is necessary for the opposing 
political forces in a polarized country to co-exist. They are not 
concerned with the human costs of a winner-take-all solution; indeed it 
is possible that for people like Elliott Abrams and John Bolton, 
violence may be seen as an integral part of their strategy for 
vanquishing Chavismo and its followers, or gaining the control that both 
Trump and Bolton have stated that they want to have over the world’s 
largest oil reserves.

It is good that WOLA has distinguished itself from these people by 
opposing US military intervention and the manipulation of humanitarian 
aid for political purposes. But that is not enough. It should 
unequivocally oppose the whole sordid regime change operation, the 
violations of international law, and the illegal sanctions that are 
causing so much suffering.

WOLA should not pretend that this external regime change operation led 
by violence-prone extremists is actually a legitimate effort by the 
“international community” to help resolve Venezuela’s political and 
economic crisis. And most importantly, WOLA should abandon the 
implausible assertion that the only viable negotiation process is one 
that is controlled by the Trump administration and its allies, i.e., the 
European Contact Group.

Signed:

Greg Grandin, Professor of History, New York University

Noam Chomsky, Emeritus Professor, MIT

Marisol de la Cadena, Professor of Anthropology, University of 
California-Davis

Steve Ellner, Associate Managing Editor of Latin American Perspectives

Sinclair S. Thomson, Associate Professor of History, New York University

Brad Simpson, Associate Professor of History, University of Connecticut

Thomas C. Field Jr., Associate Professor, Embry-Riddle College of 
Security and Intelligence

Marc Becker, Professor of History, Truman State University

Forrest Hylton, Associate Professor of History, Universidad Nacional de 
Colombia-Medellín

Sujatha Fernandes, Professor of Political Economy and Sociology, 
University of Sydney

Rosaura Sanchez, Professor of Literature, UCSD

Suyapa Portillo, Associate Professor, Pitzer College

Jocelyn Olcott, Professor, History, International Comparative Studies, 
Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, Duke University

Jodie Evans, CODEPINK

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^[1] <#_ftnref1>The Trump administration subsequently carved out some 
temporary exceptions for some oil companies.

__

Dan Beeton
International Communications Director
Center for Economic and Policy Research
1611 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20009
Phone: 202-239-1460
Cell: 202-256-6116
Skype: dan.beeton
E-mail: beeton at cepr.net / www.cepr.net
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=UMKvn3kCTQOWdeQxlTFPHYRFR39DlZsK>Twitter: 
@Dan_Beeton 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=G5LtmgrHhe53FDhNRP3wfoRFR39DlZsK>

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