“Crisis in Venezuela” & timeworn impunity and corruption of ‘usual suspect’ illegally interventionist countries
(Letter to The Guardian, by Grahame Russell, January 25, 2019)
 
While I agree with much of this Guardian piece (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/24/risk-catastrophic-us-intervention-venezuela?CMP=share_btn_link), what I disagree with is when outsiders -- particularly from a small number of ‘usual suspects’ exploitative-rich, militarily powerful western countries that regularly participate in illegal, harmful and deadly economic-political-military interventions in countries around the world, such as Venezuela -- pass judgement on the policies and actions of the ‘enemy-of-the-day’ government, while focusing no critical attention on demanding full legal and political accountability for the policies and illegal actions of our governments when they participate in illegal, harmful and deadly economic-political-military interventions.
 
In the small number of unjustly rich, militarily powerful western countries that regularly participate in illegal government-change interventions (past and ongoing) across the planet, our legal, moral and ethical responsibility is to hold ourselves - our governments, media, companies, investors - accountable for our illegal, harmful and deadly policies and actions in other countries.
 
While I agree that the risk of “catastrophe” in Venezuela is increasing, as stated in The Guardian piece, this is no more true in Venezuela, today, than how other illegal interventions - led by the U.S. and invariably supported by Canada and certain E.U. nations (and usually a list of corrupt, repressive countries whose elites are beholden to the unjustly rich, militarily powerful western countries) - have catastrophically played themselves across Latin America: Guatemala in 1954, and from there Cuba, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Grenada, Central America many times (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala), Panama, Haiti and Honduras in 2009.

(Without going into, here, similar “catastrophic” and illegal interventions in other regions of the world, past and ongoing.)
 
It is not a question of whether there are serious problems caused by the government and/or private sector in Venezuela. There are. Such is true of a majority of countries and governments on the planet, in varying degrees.
 
The question is what needs to get done and by whom to try and honestly and justly resolve the problems.
 
And a time-worn, fundamental question is: When will the people, governments, politicians, media and “experts” of the unjustly rich, militarily powerful western countries begin to hold ourselves to account for generations of illegal, harmful and deadly interventions across the planet, usually lied about (in defense of democracy, human rights, justice, freedoms and liberties, etc.) and almost always to keep or put in place governments (no matter how corrupt, exploitative and repressive) that favour the economic interests of mainly our global companies, investors and banks?
 
The situation in Venezuela has exploded again into the glare of the international media, but this is not simply a “Venezuelan” crisis or problem.
 
Grahame Russell, Rights Action
 
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