Venezuela - What to Do?

It may be that I am getting older and therefore less intellectually alert, but the political situation in Venezuela is confusing to me. Or rather any solution to the mess that country is in - is beyond me

It seems inconceivable that a country that is sitting on one of the world's greatest reserves of crude oil - is so far in debt and is so unable to meet the most basic of needs of its citizens. There is no doubt that the production of oil has been mismanaged. There appears to be a myriad of possible causes including the big multi-national oil companies who took out countless of billions of dollars of profits in the late 1960s and early 1970s did not contribute enough to the national economy. Others blame the Socialist government of Chavez who nationalized those companies and perhaps lacked the expertise to manage the oil reserves. It is clear that the world economy could not sustain the ever increasing cost of oil that the Venezuelan government depended on to maintain its programs and that the growth that the Venezuelan middle class demanded. The more cynical of us would wonder if there had been some not- so-subtle interference in the Venezuelan economy by some western countries and their multi-national corporate allies who opposed the concept of a Socialist government.

Every news site from Al Jezerra to the BBC to the Globe and Mail has suggested answers but it is difficult to ever imagine finding a solution to a crisis if one cannot agree on the causes of that crisis.

There would appear to be two factions within Venezuela. Both leaders are arguing that they have a legitimate right to control the resources and the military. Both are supported by various governments around the world. Neither leader, from what I have read - have a clue as to how to reverse the crisis that is Venezuela.

I am unclear as to why my Canadian government has decided to be such a verbally active advocate of Juan Guaidó - the head of the National Assembly who has declared himself interim president. The stated reason - that of being concerned for the human rights of the Venezuelan people, rings hollow to me. There are numerous other countries with whom Canada has trading relationships with, who have an abysmal record of human rights including Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Russia and perhaps on occasion, even our neighbour to the south of us. I have no problem Canada providing some leadership on the issue of human rights. The world needs countries to call out other countries that ignore the most basic protections for their citizens. But we need to be sure that we are getting our own house in order and that our condemnations of other countries are applied equally. We must not "cherry pick" which countries we pick on.

It would seem to me that we could be far more effective if we offered some expertise to assist Venezuela in dealing with its problems. We seem to have lots of experienced, professional oil field workers and managers who, according to the press, are scrambling for work - perhaps we could pay their salaries for six months and offer their expertise - free and without strings to the Venezuelan people. But we should not be loudly advocating for the military of one country to desert to support another leader. Encouraging armed insurrection should not be what we are known for.