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--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- John Bickley: Since socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro came to power in Venezuela, the once prosperous country has seen crushing declines in oil revenues, dire shortages of essential goods, and hyperinflation topping 100,000 percent. And that sent migrants flooding throughout the region and to the U.S. This week, the Venezuelan government declared Maduro the winner of a contested presidential election, but the opposition party and U.S. officials say the supposed victory is a sham.
--:-- John Bickley: In this episode, we talk with a foreign policy expert about the disputed election, the Biden administration's role in it, and what a second Trump term might mean for Venezuela's future. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's August 3rd, and this is a Saturday edition of Morning Wire. Since 1974, Saudi Arabia has sold oil solely in U.S. dollars, which was paramount to the dollar's strength and stability, but not anymore. That's why you've got to get in touch with the experts over at Birch Gold today. Right now, qualifying purchases will get you a one-of-a-kind, limited edition golden truth bomb. The only way to claim your eligibility, though, is by texting WIRE to 989898. Text WIRE to 989898 for a free, no-obligation info kit on gold, and to get your hands on that limited edition golden truth bomb today.
--:-- John Bickley: An excerpt of this interview aired earlier this week. The following is the full interview. Joining us to discuss the massively controversial election in Venezuela and the U.S. response to it is Victoria Coates, Vice President of National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Thank you so much for coming on.
--:-- John Bickley: Of course, happy to do it. First, what are some of the reasons that this election is being called into question?
--:-- Victoria Coates: Well, there's a long and undistinguished history of election interference from the Chavez and Maduro regimes in Venezuela. Venezuela had been a flourishing democracy. Historically, that's what the people of Venezuela are used to. And the Maduro regime has followed their regular playbook of shutting polling places early, kicking out the inspectors, and manufacturing a completely uncredible vote count that he won in a landslide when all exit polls indicate the reverse.
--:-- Victoria Coates: The opposition has put forward significant evidence of just complete unabashed voter fraud. I mean, they don't even really try to hide it at this point. So I don't think there's anyone, even Maduro himself, that would argue that this was a free and fair election.
--:-- John Bickley: And how have U.S. officials reacted to Maduro's self-declared victory?
--:-- Victoria Coates: Well, the Biden-Harris administration has reacted with rhetoric. They say they stand with the people of Venezuela, but that's not particularly credible because they're the ones who set this up. About 10 months ago, they made a deal essentially with Maduro that they would lift some of the sanctions, particularly on his energy sector, if he would allow a fair election, which he agreed to. They lifted the sanctions and he immediately reneged on the deal and kicked the most popular opposition figure, Maria Corina Machado, off the ticket, wouldn't let her run. And the administration did nothing.
--:-- Victoria Coates: They want that dirty Venezuelan crude on the U.S. market to keep gas prices here low. So I think the only actual response will come out of Congress and they'll try to look at perhaps a way they can reimpose sanctions on Venezuela. To be clear, the administration took no real action at all to hold Maduro accountable to punish his regime in any way. No, they didn't do a thing.
--:-- John Bickley: The sanctions remain at least partially listed. They did not reimpose them with any teeth whatsoever. And they've just allowed this to happen. So I think we have to take, you know, the rhetoric of solidarity with people of Venezuela with a grain of salt, just as we took Obama's words about standing in solidarity with the people of Iran during the Green Revolution in 2009. You know, they proved absolutely empty.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Now, Maduro has become very cozy with several U.S. adversaries. What is really at stake here?
--:-- Victoria Coates: Well, I mean, in many ways, it just comes down to energy. It comes down to oil. Venezuela is a significant producer. They could produce a lot more if they weren't so corrupt and had paid any attention to their infrastructure. So they're getting very, very cozy with Russia, which has been a historical partner to both the Chavez and Maduro regimes. They're very, very close with China. But their most important relationship is actually with Cuba. And so they create this kind of nexus of anti-American actors. And we can't forget at this point, actually, the Iranians as well. The now deceased Iranian President Raisi visited Venezuela.
--:-- Victoria Coates: You might wonder, why do the Iranians need to go to Venezuela? Well, it means that they're plotting together against the United States, and Iran's terrorist proxy Hezbollah has also historically had a strong presence in Venezuela.
--:-- John Bickley: Could you give our listeners some background on Venezuela? When did Maduro take power? Who was challenging him? What led to the violence?
--:-- Victoria Coates: Well, really, it was a handover from Hugo Chavez, who was in power in Venezuela for about 20 years in the 90s and the first decade of this century. And eventually he died of cancer in Cuba and handed power to Nicolas Maduro who was his sort of henchman strongman. So there was nobody challenging Maduro in that transition of power. That was all set up by Hugo Chavez who was a communist dictator of Venezuela.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And, you know, he exploited Venezuela's, Chavez did Venezuela's historic democracy to get in on a kind of a populist platform, and then just consolidated power and became a dictator. And so that's how a once great partner to the United States, when it should be with the wealthiest country in Latin America, given its resources, wonderful people, the thriving culture. I mean, it's just, it's a crime. What communism has done to that beautiful country and taken a great partner to the United States and turned it into an adversary.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And during his reign, we've seen a massive collapse, like you just referenced, economically the worst in 45 years for a country that's not in the midst of a war.
--:-- John Bickley: What's been the effect of this economic failure on Venezuelans?
--:-- Victoria Coates: Oh, it's just been brutal. The inflation is completely off the charts. The currency is basically valueless. I mean, there is income from oil sales, but it's much, much less than it should be. And what the money that does come in is very susceptible to corruption. It's not being spent on the people. And the result of all of this is, of course, massive migration. Venezuela is one of the top countries sending illegal migrants to the United States.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And that's why, again, it's a little rich to hear the vice president talk about her solidarity with these people when her partnership with their dictator is what is causing the economic misery that then results in these waves of migration. So people are just desperate to get out. They've been going into Colombia in huge numbers and then passing through to Costa Rica, which is under tremendous strain from, I believe it's somewhere close to 9 million people who have come through Costa Rica.
--:-- Victoria Coates: So it's a disastrous situation and then becomes more than just, you know, a problem in our hemisphere. It becomes a national security problem for the United States when you have this wave of illegal migration coming into our country.
--:-- John Bickley: What is Venezuela's relationship like with other countries in the region now?
--:-- Victoria Coates: Well, they're definitely a problem child. And what was interesting in the lead up to this, quote unquote, election is that traditional partners of Maduro, like Alula in Brazil, came out and said, hey, you can't do this. You cannot steal this election this blatantly and still be considered any kind of a democracy. So, you know, the relationship with Colombia has traditionally been quite fraught. The leader of Colombia, Petro, is much more pro-Maduro than his predecessors. So that has been a closer relationship, but again, still problematic.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And so Venezuela is in many ways turning into kind of the black sheep of Latin America, which again is ironic given it should be in a leadership position.
--:-- John Bickley: Now speaking of regime change if Donald Trump wins in November and we see a second Trump administration could we see a significant change in the relationship with Venezuela? And what might that look like?
--:-- Victoria Coates: I think you could anticipate a much stronger stance. The former president, President Trump, is very aware of the potential value of a good relationship with Venezuela. He wants to see that. But I think he's pretty clear it can't come under its current leadership, particularly after the events of this weekend.
--:-- Victoria Coates: So I think you would see him taking a kind of double-pronged approach. On the one hand, he would put very strong sanctions back on Venezuelan energy exports in an effort to really starve Maduro of resources, and then, of course, expand U.S. domestic production to make up for that reduction in the market.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And the other thing we have, John, that we haven't before is a really credible leader of the opposition. In Maria Corina Machado, she has been able to unify the opposition as none of her predecessors have. And I think, you know, if you can really support her and get to a situation where Maduro is in some way forced to agree because of the economic pressure on him to letting her actually stand for election, you have somebody who maybe is not going to be the George Washington of Venezuela, but can be a very credible political voice commanding a lot of popular support.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And that's something we simply haven't had before and I think would be, you know, a really interesting opportunity to a future Trump administration.
--:-- John Bickley: Do you think that could actually happen? I mean, how much pressure would they have to put on for somebody like Maduro to actually stand aside and allow the process to take place effectively knowing that he's resigning his position?
--:-- Victoria Coates: Yeah, I think what it would ultimately take would be the defection in the armed services, because that's how he stays in power is through the kind of Chinese designed surveillance regime that he has control over the Internet, which is something that we should think about very seriously. Is this something we could supply to the opposition in Venezuela, some kind of free, untraceable Internet access?
--:-- Victoria Coates: But Maduro still has the loyalty of the armed services. It's hard to see quite how you do it, but that's not inevitable. And especially if he is starved of the funds to pay them, you could see a change. And, you know, stranger things have happened. We had a revolution in Iran in 1979, and that certainly didn't go our way, but these things do happen.
--:-- Victoria Coates: So, you know, it would be very much hoped that the threats Maduro has made of violence would not come to pass and that this could be done in a very targeted, strategic, diplomatic and economic lane. And then I think then that would hinge on the actions of the army. As you say, these things do happen.
--:-- John Bickley: Victoria, thank you so much for joining us.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Of course. Thank you very much.
--:-- John Bickley: That was the Heritage Foundation's Victoria Coates, and this has been a Saturday edition of Morning Wire.
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