Military Force to Push Humanitarian Aid Past Colombian-Venezuelan Border

            Border tensions have been a recurring part of political and geographical history. From border tensions regarding resources or political standings, wars fought because of border disputes are also notable. Such is the case between Colombia and Venezuela. The country of Venezuela has been led by the political prowess of Nicolás Maduro Moros. serving as President of Venezuela since 2013 (succeeding Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías), and disputed president since January 2019. The reason his position as president is currently under political debate is because a Venezuelan politician by the name Juan Guaido has been serving as President of the National Assembly of Venezuela and as the partially recognized acting President of Venezuela as of January 2019. He is a member of the centrist social-democratic Popular Will party and serves as a federal deputy to the National Assembly, representing the state of Vargas in Venezuela, as well as being recognized as the acting president of Venezuela by more than 50 countries, including the United States of America.

To understand the turmoil at the Colombian-Venezuelan even more it is necessary to take into consideration that events that led up to the need for humanitarian aid for the anti-government groups and civilians falling victim to the regime of the illegitimate president Nicolas Maduro. On January 10^th, Guaidó challenged Maduro’s legitimacy as president referring to Article 233 of the Constitution of Venezuela which states, “when the president-elect is absolutely absent before taking office, a new election shall take place… and until the president is elected and takes office, the interim president shall be the president of the National Assembly” and furthermore, having illegitimately assumed a second six-year presidential term. As a result, the United States of America, Canada, Brazil and several Latin American countries (including Colombia) supported Guaidó as acting president the same day. Furthermore Russia, China, and Cuba have since supported Maduro’s dictatorship, and thus Maduro has forced his political regime to cut ties with all countries that have refused to recognize his legitimacy as president of Venezuela.

The civilians and people of Venezuela are the ones that fallen victim to this political turmoil. The situation at hand, is known as the “Crisis in Venezuela” being that it’s a socioeconomic and political crisis (the worst economic crisis in Venezuela’s history). Many of the problems include hyperinflation, soaring hunger, disease, crime and death rates, and massive emigration from the country. Political analysts and economists have come to a consensus in that the crisis is not the result of a conflict or natural disaster but the consequences of populist policies that began under the Chávez administration’s Bolivarian Revolution, with Venezuela becoming the poster child for how the combination of corruption, economic mismanagement, and undemocratic governance can lead to widespread suffering.”, as declared by the prestigious think-tank and American research group, the Brookings Institution. To further emphasize that the country is suffering by the calamity that is the socialist regime of the Nicolas Maduro here are a few statistics and events to consider:

• By 2017, hunger had escalated to the point where nearly 75% of the population had lost an average of over 8 kg (over 19 lbs) in weight, and more than half did not have enough income to meet their basic food needs
• By the end of 2018, over 90% of the population was below the poverty line, and almost 1/10th of Venezuelans (3 million) had left their country
• Venezuela led the world in murder rates, with 56.3 per 100,000 people killed in 2016 (compared to 5.35 per 100,000 in the US or 1.68 per 100,000 in Canada) making it the third most violent country in the world
• Owing to high oil reserves, lack of policies on private property and low remittances, by 2012, of every 100 dollars, more than 90 came from oil and its derivatives. With the fall in oil prices in early 2015 the country faced a drastic fall in revenues of the US currency along with commodities. Venezuela has a strong dependence on oil, which generates about 96% of its export revenues.
• In November 2017, The Economist estimated Venezuela’s debt at $105 billion US Dollars and its reserves at $10 billion US dollars. Venezuelan public debt: it represents 55% of the total and is what is owed in terms of domestic and foreign debt bonds, treasury bills and bank loans.
• In 2015 the Venezuelan economy contracted 5.7% and in 2016 it contracted by 18.6% according to the Venezuelan central bank.
• In November 2016, Venezuela entered a period of hyperinflation. The rate then increased to 181% in 2015, 800% in 2016, 4,000% in 2017 and 2,688,670% in January 2019. At the end of 2018, inflation had reached 1.35 million percent
• According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Government of Venezuela retained US$3.8 billion from the airlines. As a result of this, the country lost business opportunities, aggravating the deep crisis that it suffered. As of 2018, a total of 19 airlines and other business sectors have left the country, due to quarrels with the socialist government
• In April 2016 the unemployment rate closed at 18.1 percent and the economy was the worst in the world according to the misery index. The Venezuelan government hasn’t reported any figures since then.

The statistics provided above speak for themselves. Political corruption, chronic shortages of food and medicine, closure of companies, unemployment, deterioration of productivity, authoritarianism, human rights violations, gross economic mismanagement and high dependence on oil have also contributed to the worsening crisis. It’s also necessary to understand that humanitarian aid has been consistently being provided but the great majority of humanitarian aid has been rejected by Venezuelan pro-Maduro government officials and military forces. So much so that most humanitarian aid entries into Venezuela, as a result of a coalition of Colombia, Brazil, the United States and the Netherlands attempted to bring essential goods to the most critical points of extreme need of the Venezuelan population mainly through the Colombian city of Cucuta, Brazilian state of Roraima, and the Dutch island of Curacao, have been raided and attacked by pro-government militia groups (aka Colectivos) and military forces still operating under the command of Nicolas Maduro, despite many military officials fleeing the country through these entry points out of disapproval of Maduro’s legitimacy as president. For example, many confrontations occurred during February 23 as a result of worldwide humanitarian aid response over the lack of supplies and basic human needs in the country of Venezuela, where Colectivos and the Venezuelan National Guard killed at least four and injured twenty-four more during border conflicts in Santa Elena de Uairén (Brazil). Aid trucks destined to travel from Brazil into Venezuela did not enter Venezuela and returned to their departure points. The Brazilian Army reported that Venezuelan authorities fired live ammunition at those attempting to accept aid. Furthermore, of the five trucks that attempted to enter Venezuela from Colombia, two were burned, two were stolen by Maduro loyalists and one returned to Colombia. Taking this in consideration, it’s far to suggest that humanitarian aid can only be successful through military force for the following reason:

• Time: The regime of Maduro has been active since 2013 and even then, some may argue that the “Chavismo” (socialist ideology established by Hugo Chavez) government began with his predecessor Hugo Chavez (who’s economic policies he currently mimics). The situation has escalated so much over the last few years, that military force by the Colombian government with support by the United States of America, doesn’t seem to farfetched of an option.
• Rejecting Humanitarian Aid: As mentioned above, the United States, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Colombia, Curacao, Puerto Rico, and Brazil have all attempted to provide humanitarian aid, just to be received with threats, attacks, raids, and murders at the entry points of both the Colombia-Venezuela and Brazil-Venezuela border. If Venezuela (knowing the crisis their in and their own inability to provide services) refuses to allow medical supplies, basic commodities, and food to be provided to the starving and suffering locals and families of the country, this is essentially a form of holding your own citizens for ransom (despite Acting-President Guaido’s ongoing attempts to combat Maduro’s military resistance, in a peaceful manner). Military force is in a sense, a last resort but given the events of previous time, it seems likely that the time has forced for a last resort.
• Threats: According to briefings and interviews, Acting-President Guaido and Colombia President Ivan Duque were both offered military support from the U.S. upon meeting with United States Vice-President Mike Pence in Bogota, Colombia. The United States has speculated possible invasion into the South American country in order to assist Colombia, Brazil, and President Guaido’s campaign to help take down the regime of Maduro and his loyalists. The potential of a military invasion may prove much more effective than the failed humanitarian aid attempts, despite the Russian government heeding warnings to the United States to not interfere with the presidential debate in Venezuela.

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Sebastian Gonzalez-Arboleda – OP-ED Assignment (PDF Download)