Nicolas Máduro’s removal sparks protests, celebrations worldwide

CLEVELAND — Marie Navarro is among the millions of Venezuelans celebrating Nicolas Máduro’s removal, but not all are one board with how it was done.

Venezuela’s Economic Crisis

Navarro first moved to the United States in 2017, and is now the owner of Tumbao58 at CentroVilla25 in Cleveland. She’s one of nearly 8 million Venezuelans who’ve left the country in search of better living conditions since Máduro took office.

Venezuelans have endured more than a decade of economic devastation under a leader many consider illegitimate, including the United States. According to the Human Rights Watch, more than 80% of Venezuelans have been living in poverty and lack access to basic services like food and medicine.

“It is something that we were waiting for, on my part, not with much eagerness because the Venezuelan people have been looking for our freedom for many years,” Navarro said.

Maduro had maintained power through various tactics that violate human rights principles, including restricting internet access and jailing political opponents and critics. 

History of U.S. intervention

The United States has a long history of intervention in the Caribbean and other Latin American countries, which can be traced back to as early as the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, which has been used repeatedly by U.S. presidents to justify foreign intervention.

Gloria La Riva is an organizer for the Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition and a longtime activist in Latin America, including Venezuela. 

“There has not been anything like this since the U.S. takeover of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines in 1898,” La Riva said.

La Riva said she met Máduro herself in 2000 when he was a young political activist.

“People don’t know much about the history of Venezuela, but from the turn of the 20th century until 1999, the U.S. ruled over the vast resources that Venezuela has” La Riva said.

Still, Navarro said she is hopeful Máduro’s removal from office is the first step in addressing the longtime needs of Venezuelans.

“Our country is in ruin … so, I am sure that this whole transition is going to greatly favor us for the people, that is, the people are going to see the fruit of their wealth again,” Navarro said.

Venezuelan Oil and Narcotrafficking

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused Máduro’s government of engaging with drug trafficking.

“I’ve been in Venezuela since 2001 many times, and in the very beginning there was a lot of violence, a lot of drug violence, a lot of gun violence. You could see 100 people murdered on a weekend in the capital of Caracas. That doesn’t happen now,” La Riva said.

Trump also announced Saturday the U.S. will run Venezuela and take control of its massive oil reserves.

Delcy Rodiguez, who’s previously served as Vice President to Máduro and vowed to work with Trump, was sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president Monday morning.

“Trump admitted that the aim is, he said, we will take back the oil, the land and the resources that have been stolen from the U.S.…Venezuelan resources do not belong to the United States. It belongs to the Venezuelan people for their economic benefit,” La Riva said.

The United States’ recent military action in Venezuela is the latest escalation in increasingly tense relationship between the two countries revolving around Venezuela’s main raw material, La Riva said

“So, beginning with President Obama, a very heavy series of sanctions had been imposed, more than 1000 sanctions, economic … on the country, on its leaders, on the resources, [on] the oil corporation of CITGO in the United States, which belongs to Venezuela, was confiscated by the U.S.” La Riva said.

Contemporary US-Venezuela Relations

“I had been working for 20 years at two large companies.  Those jobs don’t exist anymore,” Navarro said. “This is due to all the failed economic policies that have made it impossible for any company, anywhere in the world, to be sustainable over time.”

Venezuela is home to the largest crude oil reserve in the world. Navarro said she hopes the United States will help Venezuelans rebuild their country rather than exploit it.

The U.S. was Venezuela’s primary market for oil until Hugo Chavez took power in 1999. Now it’s China and Russia.

“Venezuela has undoubtedly already been invaded by Russia, China and Cuba, who have been stealing all our oil and all our wealth for years,” Navarro said. “… Perhaps the United States, in this role, could act as a kind of police force that could stop these kinds of events. Right? I’m not… I’m not entirely against this decision.”