OPINION:
Recent coverage of the Trump administration’s sanctions of the socialist Maduro regime omits one important element. Earlier this summer, the Trump administration issued sanctions against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, effectively blocking North American investors from claiming their rightful property in CITGO, its U.S. division. Juan Guaido’s interim government of Venezuela supported the move. They want to eliminate investors’ property rights in CITGO.
As an immigrant who escaped Venezuela’s corruption, I have seen Venezuela’s failure firsthand. It stems from its lack of property rights and rule of law — the very traditions that have made the United States great. While the Maduro regime deserves to be replaced, our nation should not support policies from the interim government that would continue the country’s legacy of corruption and poor economic policy.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants like me left Venezuela in the midst of the country’s crisis. If we continue to support lawless policies in Venezuela, that crisis may never end.
IRENE LOBON
Boca Raton, Fla.
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