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Just Say No to Negotiations With Maduro


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The only thing worth discussing with Venezuela’s corrupt leader is how and when he leaves office.

Eli Lake

February 5, 2019

As the crisis in Venezuela enters its third week, many well-intentioned observers are seeking a middle way. To prevent civil war, they say, the opposition and the dictator should compromise.

Mexico and Uruguay have offered to mediate the conflict between strongman Nicolas Maduro and Juan Guaido, whom most of the Western Hemisphere regards as Venezuela’s president. Greece has also said it supports negotiations. Two well-respected economists identified as “experts in Latin America” are recommending an interim government that includes the loyalists and the opposition. Even Maduro himself has said he would sit down with Guaido and accept new elections for the National Assembly.

A good example of this be-willing-to-compromise argument can be found in a recent op-ed from Senator Chris Murphy and Ben Rhodes, who was deputy national security adviser under President Barack Obama. They worry that President Donald Trump’s “chest thumping” declaration that recognized Guaido as interim president will erode U.S. credibility if Maduro does not soon leave power. A better approach, they say, would be to continue to sanction Maduro and his inner circle, while “working with international partners” to support negotiations for an interim government and new elections. Included in these negotiations, Murphy and Rhodes write, should be Cuba and China, which can influence Maduro.

(Snip)

This is why Trump’s approach, to follow the lead of Guaido and the National Assembly, is for the best. At this point, the only issue to discuss with Maduro is how and when he will leave office.

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