Venezuela's opposition leader Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize

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46. You know what?

Many in the Venezuelan opposition have expressed support for this sort of thing - not because they necessarily like Trump (they can see he's a clown), but because they see US intervention as the best opportunity to remove Maduro. They called for American intervention when Biden was in office, too. They'd be calling for it had Harris won.

I do not, in any way, support what Trump has done. His orders to attack civilian boats off the Venezuelan coast is a war crime, and he should end up in The Hague along with the Secretary of Defense and any of the personnel who opened fire on the boats.

Nor do I think the US should actively depose Maduro. The solution must be political.

That said, Maduro is not a good guy, and just as I can understand Israeli anger in the aftermath of the Hamas attack while still being sympathetic to the plight of Gaza and West Bank Palestinians, I can understand how opponents to Maduro in Venezuela might not oppose a violent overthrow. I don't agree with it, but I can see why they might feel that way.

Many apologists for Maduro in the US point to the way he, and Chavez before him, lavished resources on impoverished communities. But they did so by placing their bets on the Venezuelan oil industry, and when the price of oil dropped in the oughts, the Venezuelan economy went toes up. And the people in these impoverished communities never seem to move out of poverty - most of the expenditures have been cosmetic.

I've been there and seen it for myself.