(full interview, his wife Cilia Flores can be seen in the backseat)
This comes despite N.Maduro agreeing to the u.s. pillaging their oil.
No point in arguing that it has nothing to do with drugs(, so many videos talking about it, Grayzone since 2020, even Rand Paul), not even western journalists seem to buy this lie.
They used their oil to improve the lives of their citizens instead of enriching only the wealthiest venezuelans complicit of this robbery by the u.s. for decades before Chávez. And then we(sterners) talk of sovereignty.
(source)
But i.m.o. oil is also an excuse, as it was for Iraq. The problem here is that socialism is contagious(, just like anti-zionism was contagious in the Middle-East).
Venezuela was set to lead latin american countries in economic growth, much more than the regional average of 2.9%, they survived the harshest phase, sanctions became inefficient, but the capitalists-owned empire doesn't allow socialist countries to be successful :
The worker's exploitation has to continue at all costs and this is more important than anything, imagine if the wealthiest lost their passive income and had to work like everyone else, that's what has always been fought against i.m.o., whether in the Cold War or as far as the discussions of the bourgeois during, e.g., the french revolution, on the importance of keeping the right of property.
We can't build a world where everyone is 'a capitalist'/'exploiting other workers while lazing around', that's why they hate anarchy, or Venezuela.
Needless to point out that the US won't suffer from "international"(western) sanctions, the assets of D.Trump and american oligarchs won't be seized, there will be no sports/cultural/.. boycott, closure of US medias, freezing of the bank accounts of pro-americans, ...
(oops, sry)
An interesting account/website among others : https://venezuelanalysis.com/opinion/reimposing-democracy-in-venezuela-decoding-western-propaganda
The way I see it (I don't know how mod, or mods, saw it, am looking at it after the fact), the issue is that the comment was victim blaming and counter to solidarity during a crisis. Posting in anger is one thing, but directing that anger at the victim instead of the aggressor is... to put it in the most good faith terms I can think of at the moment, a confused way to direct anger.
If nothing else, I will take this moment to remind people how important solidarity is in moments of crisis.
Even when that solidarity has the character of struggle too:
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_17.htm
Note: This is not to draw direct parallel to Venezuela, but to make the point that even when there is significant struggle and contradiction within being allies, the historical lesson is to navigate contradictions in order to overcome the greater contradiction, not intensify resentment when solidarity is needed.
well-written, comrade. i think 30 days is more punitive than constructive but this is a really good thing to hear