Every president makes mistakes while in office, no matter the overall achievement of their term. Former President Barack Obama famously left office having failed in his campaign promise to close the Guantanamo Bay facility, and former President Woodrow Wilson exited the White House unable to convince the United States to join the League of Nations, which he created. Now after four hard years at the helm, former President Joe Biden has also left office with a black mark on his record:Venezuela.
The fortunes of this oil-rich Latin American nation had looked to finally change for the better when Biden entered office in 2020. A Venezuelan election in 2018, which was widely considered a sham, generated widespread protests and discontent with the governing Socialist Party and its wannabe dictator Nicolas Maduro. While those protests had been crushed and the international response bungled, there was still hope for change. Venezuela’s once-prosperous economy has been decimated by the incumbent Socialist Party. Politically weakened and suffering from hyperinflation, Maduro was on the ropes as huge numbers of Venezuela’s population attempted to flee from the battered country. However, in 2023, Biden bowed to pressure from big oil lobbies and negotiated a deal to lift sanctions on Venezuelan oil if Maduro promised to have a free election in 2024. Biden also likely agreed to this deal to shore up his own popularity, which was dropping after oil prices rose following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The former president further reconciled with the Venezuelan dictatorship in a prison swap, exchanging an infamous money launderer for 10 arrested Americans in Venezuela.
Maduro, for his part, has broken many of the promises and deals which he made with Biden. He cracked down further on opposition leaders ahead of the election, barring the popular opposition leader from running in the election. This forced Biden to reimpose sanctions, making the whole ordeal a worthless endeavor except for allowing the Venezuelan dictatorship some much-needed breathing room. Even the prison deal turned out to be a nightmare as Maduro learned the value of American prisoners and has arrested more since the prison swap.
Biden’s disastrous policy on Venezuela shows only one thing: Deals with hostile dictators who are incapable of pronouncing words like freedom, are fruitless endeavors. Only a “maximum pressure” campaign such as the one achieved under the first administration of President Donald Trump can attain any type of result.
As a Tufts student, I understand it can be difficult to say anything good about any of Trump’s policies. I myself detest many of Trump’s social and economic policies, but on this issue, I do agree with Trump’s position on Venezuela. However, there is already speculation of a Trump-Maduro deal that would allow the Socialist dictator off the hook in exchange for provisions that could include increased oil exports and taking back Venezuelan migrants. This would be a completely unacceptable policy position regardless of your political allegiance.
As Tufts students, we should oppose the Maduro regime on both political and moral grounds. Politically, Maduro is a hostile power who is opposed to American values and may divide Latin America between U.S. and Venezuelan interests. In addition, Venezuela’s failing economy continues to force many to flee the country into neighboring regions, thus disrupting countries like Colombia, Brazil and the United States.
Morally, we should further oppose the Maduro regime. The current Venezuelan government is falsely elected and driving the nation into the ground economically and socially. Maduro’s country is one where opposition figures are harassed, jailed and attacked. This is a country where 91%of the population lives in poverty and 12% of people regularly go entire days without eating. The suffering of the Venezuelan people is immense and it will only continue as long as Maduro and his lackeys continue to rule the country. An international intervention will only do more harm than good. Real change can only come from the Venezuelan people themselves. The only thing we can do is to pressure our government to keep up its pressure on the dictatorship and never relent no matter the cost. Some might say that this may cause more suffering as it exacerbates the economic crisis and further paralyzes Venezuelan society. However, short-term pains can lead to long-term gains. Should the people of Venezuela finally cast off the shackles of dictatorship, the United States should offer a helping hand in reconstruction. I sincerely hope that one day Venezuelans can say that the future looks brighter than the past. In the meantime, the U.S. government must never hinder the coming of such a day.
