From WAR ROOM —Online Journal of the U.S. Army War College
“Observers figure that if the US, Mexico, or Brazil are unwilling to intervene in [Venezuela], they are presumably even less likely to care about dictatorships in countries with fewer resources.”
The extraconstitutional power grab may have domino effects for other caudillos who want to retain power on the continent, despite unhappy populaces.
The international community’s reaction to the early 2019 turmoil in Venezuela may have much farther-reaching effects than many pundits and policymakers are so far considering. Nicolas Maduro’s hanging onto power despite nearly worldwide condemnation will act as a cue to the rest of the region about how much the world really cares about “democracy” in the Americas. After all, observers figure that if the US, Mexico, or Brazil are unwilling to intervene in the country with the world’s largest oil reserves, they are presumably even less likely to care about dictatorships in countries with fewer resources. For the international community and the US in particular, that means even more potential instability in the backyard and more opportunities for China to exploit strongmen in need of cash. Two countries in particular are watching especially closely: Bolivia and Nicaragua.
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