https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/25/standi
The Russian- and Cuban-supported Maduro regime is getting bolder in attempts to crush the people of Venezuela — now working blocking aid coming across the border to the starving citizens and shooting at the truck drivers.Some of that aid is American, to the irritation of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who doesn’t believe in revolution to remove a socialist. Agreeing that Nicolas Maduro is not a nice man, Mr. Sanders called for a “free and fair election” instead. “That is a decision of the Venezuelan people.”Actually, revolution appears to be the decision of the people — and support for the revolution is the appropriate American position.
The Monroe Doctrine defined America’s interests in the hemisphere, including recognizing and not interfering with existing colonies in the Western Hemisphere but closing the hemisphere to future colonization. And laying down the marker that any attempt to oppress or control any nation in the hemisphere would be viewed as a hostile act against the United States. The doctrine lived 190 years, mostly for better and sometimes for worse, until 2013 when Secretary of State John Kerry announced, “The era of the Monroe Doctrine is over.”But power permits no vacuum. Venezuela is what happens when the United States withdraws and others — in this case Russia, Cuba and Iran — enter to stake their claims.