After threats to invade Puerto Rico, President Trump should make an example of Maduro
As world leaders court President Trump and jockey for invitations at his inauguration, it was probably only a matter of time before one of them decided to go the other way, challenging him as 'weak.'
The stupid fool was Nicolas Maduro, fraudulently installed dictator of Venezuela who just enthroned himself in the faces of Venezuelans. Over the weekend, Maduro declared he wanted to invade Puerto Rico to "liberate" it, using the troops of his socialist ally, Brazil.
It understandably concerned Puerto Rico's new conservative governor:
The governor of Puerto Rico pleaded for President-elect Trump to intervene after Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro threatened to invade the U.S. island territory.
In a letter addressed to Trump, Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón said, "[J]ust a few days after holding an illegitimate swearing-in ceremony in a desperate attempt to cling to power in Venezuela," Maduro "publicly proposed an invasion of Puerto Rico."
Maduro, who was sworn in for a third six-year presidential term despite international condemnation of his recent reelection as illegitimate, made the threat Saturday at the end of the "International Anti-Fascist Festival" hosted in Caracas. The socialist dictator made an apparent reference to Trump's remarks eyeing U.S. control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, stating: "Just as the North has an agenda of colonization, we have an agenda of liberation." Maduro vowed that the "freedom of Puerto Rico is pending, and we will achieve it with Brazilian troops," according to Latin America Reports.
Because as the map shows, Puerto Rico is a lot closer to the Venezuelan coast than it is to the Florida coast. How dare he?
And it's pretty putrid, given the kind of failed state he leads.
What an interesting thing that he doesn't trust his own military to do the job, an omission that implicitly suggests he knows they're mainly a drug-dealing organization. And what a thing it is to volunteer Brazil for the job, which has a credible military. I'm still looking to see what Brazil's reply to this is, even under a pretty bad socialist government. Logic would suggest a dim view, but as with Maduro and his government, Brazil's leaders are socialists.
But even if it's just idle talk from Maduro, it is pretty brazen, and totally unacceptable.
He dares to throw out this kind of talk with President Trump coming into office?
The same President Trump who has got Hamas scrambling to give up its hostages, taking Trump's threat of 'all hell will break loose,' quite literally? The same Trump who has got Denmark suddenly telling him they're open to talks on military arrangements with Greenland? The same Trump who has prompted China's President Xi Jinping to come courting? The same Trump who has gotten European allies to declare their undying friendship and step up their military budgets?
Clearly this was a test. Maduro seems to think that Trump is weak and easily kicked around, no different from Joe Biden.
In light of what a problem Venezuela's dictator is -- exporting drugs, migrants, criminals, espionage, corruption, and now a direct military threat to Puerto Rico, he ought to be made to regret it.
Maybe it's time for Trump to take him out, making an example of him.
If nothing else, it would get his administration off with a bang and set the tone. It also would teach a lot of them that messing with Trump is their worst idea ever.
Maduro is due for a throw-out anyway, given his openly stolen election dating from July and subsequent abuse of dissidents in its wake. This week, he inaugurated himself to another term as if nothing strange had happened, with clown-socialist republics Mexico, Brazil and Colombia going along for the swearing in, as if to suggest that they too endorse election fraud, raising questions about their own elections. The usual suspects, Nicaragua and Cuba, for whom election fraud is how they roll, were probably there.
But no decent country of any kind went to this aping farce of an inauguration.
In other words, he doesn't belong there, he's got to go anyway, so why not use Maduro's threats against Puerto Rico to get rid of this problem once and for all?
The legitimate rulers of Venezuela, the ones who won the election, could be free to take office, and deals could be cut before that, ensuring that they take all of their illegal migrants back to the home country where they would have a safe, Maduro-free, place to live, and the returned criminals among them could be imprisoned El Salvador-style, perhaps contracting with that country to ensure it is done right. We might even ask that Venezuela's new leaders be open to oil deals in repayment if that works out for both.
The bottom line here, though, is that Trump should have a harsh message as he enters office that the U.S. is not to be messed with. That was what the great Ronald Reagan did with the illegally striking PATCO air traffic controllers, which sent a strong message to the Soviet Union that he was a leader who was as good as his word and didn't put up with crap from pipsqueaks with big egos.
If the same could be done with Maduro, he ought to regret that threat to Puerto Rico for as long as he lives.
There are obvious practical details to be worked out, from what to do about an army that doubles as a drug dealing force to what to do about China's and Russia's sponsorship.
But aside from the rightful defense that is owed to Puerto Rico against predators (note how many service members are from that lovely island among other things), making Maduro pay will send a signal to Greenland and others that they are safe from a Russian or Chinese takeover under the U.S., and make every two bit socialist dictator try to get out of Trump's eyesight for as long as the latter holds office. Trump did try a full blown throw-out of Maduro during his first term, and was thwarted by CIA incompetence. The second term may be different: The iron is hot now, and Trump should consider a strike.