Ron Paul has long been a hero of mine. He has been a tireless advocate for free markets, free minds, and free people. This is why it pains me to write that his assessment of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Venezuela is dead wrong.
Paul is outraged that the U.S. government would, in his words, “orchestrate a coup” to overthrow a democratically elected leader in Venezuela. He called for the United States to stay out of the situation entirely: diplomatically, economically, and, of course, militarily. Paul cites grievous threats to Venezuela’s rule of law and sovereignty.
Why is a leading libertarian voice supporting a Communist dictatorship supported by a small fraction of the population over a free market-oriented, libertarian- minded opposition that enjoys massive popular support? And why is he adding insult to injury by shrouding his arguments in language of legality?
Paul Pleads For Rule of Law In a Nation Without Laws
There is no rule of law in Venezuela anymore. Is Paul possibly not aware of this? The rule of law exists only for Chavistas––those who support the statist and socialist policies that have ruined this once prosperous nation of 30 million (ironically the very policies that Paul has spent 40 years railing against during his career in Washington).
Nicolas Maduro is not a democratically elected leader. All of his electoral victories were unquestionably government-perpetrated frauds. His government has routinely banned opposition political parties, jailed popular opposition politicians, and committed widespread acts of mass murder. Henrique Capriles Radonski should be the current president of Venezuela. The election was stolen from him by the Chavista-dominated National Electoral Council.
Paul has painted himself into a preposterous corner, whereby he is supporting the legitimacy of a leader who represents everything that is antithetical to the libertarian tradition: corruption, kleptocracy, nepotism, a complete absence of any free market principles or capitalism, crackdowns on freedom of speech and the press, and outright criminality, including politically motivated murder.
Ask the family of Fernando Alban about that. In October 2018, the popular opposition politician was thrown from an eighth story window to his death at the headquarters of Venezuela’s intelligence services, SEBIN. Opposing the Venezuelan government is tantamount to a death sentence.
The remainder of this lengthy article is found HERE.
