<p>While interim President Juan Guaido coordinates immediate international humanitarian assistance to reach the country’s most vulnerable, illegitimately “elected” and usurper Nicolas Maduro orders two storage containers and a water cistern to be placed on the Tienditas Bridge to prevent that aid from getting in.</p>
<p>How the U.S. military and its allies can bypass such an obstacle remains to be seen (can you hear me laughing?), but if D-Day gives us any clues at all, most will agree that they’ll figure it out when the time comes.</p>
<p>Maduro is rejecting humanitarian assistance because he sees it as the first step in being removed from power. (Well, you can’t argue with him there.) He claims Venezuela isn’t a nation of beggars and doesn’t <em>need</em> the assistance, although one has just to walk the streets of Caracas to see the hundreds of beggars and thousands rummaging through the garbage for something to eat.</p>
<p>And these are the <em>lucky</em> ones; the unlucky ones are warehoused in buildings which used to resemble hospitals, just waiting to die. Nowadays, there’s no medicine, a severe lack of medical staff, no running water, spotty electricity, broken equipment, and no hope of survival, even for easily treated maladies.</p>
<p>You see, Maduro ate just fine last night (ever see the size of this guy?), and he had his annual check-up just last Tuesday, so it’s really easy for him to forget about these poor souls. Guaidó hasn’t…his plan is fairly simple…and could almost work, if only Maduro’s military will let that help in:</p>
<p>They’ve recognized roughly 300,000 Venezuelans most in need of immediate assistance, although there are actually around 2,000,000 estimated to be getting closer to a critical status. <em>If</em> the aid is allowed in with Maduro still in power, there are still a lot of question marks on how to best get it to the people who most need it. Five major hospitals have been identified to use as the core for an ongoing assistance program, but some argue assistance would be best distributed through a much larger number of outpatient clinics. Obviously, the solution is a combination of the two, but still, if it gets over the borders, how do you get it to the distribution points?</p>
<p>A number of NGOs have refused to help, probably because they’ve been threatened with immediately losing NGO status should they do so, forcing them to leave the country. (Until the military turns, Maduro still has the power to throw them out physically.) In addition, and disgracefully so, the Red Cross also refuses to participate, because it views such aid as “political.” (Try to remember this the next time the Red Cross asks you to donate.) And the Catholic Church’s potential involvement is sketchy now, to put it mildly.</p>
<p>The medicine and foodstuffs (mostly food supplements) are already being gathered at key transit points at the borders between Venezuela and neighboring countries Colombia and Brazil. (Eastern neighbor Guyana isn’t part of the action because the rough frontier is basically impassable.) All of the supplies should be in place by the end of this weekend, although this only represents about two months’ immediate requirements.</p>
<p>So what happens over the weekend leading up until Monday? Will the Venezuelan military resist Guaido’s efforts to bring it in over the borders, or will they step aside and let the aid enter? Will the U.S. use force, or will they and its allies back down, and distribute aid only to Venezuelans <em>outside</em> of the country in these neighboring countries? Guaido says no to this last option, because it defies the whole point of the exercise, which is saving Venezuelan lives, <em>inside</em> Venezuela, and <em>now.</em></p>
<p>As of today, the U.S. position is indicating a reluctance to use force, even limited force, because of questions whether this would suffice. After all, what’s the point of bringing penicillin five miles into Venezuelan territory by gunpoint if it doesn’t travel the remaining distances to the distribution points, and instead, is robbed and sold by the Venezuelan military further down the line?</p>
<p>But remember that America’s current stated position is <em>today’s </em>position, they only stated <em>reluctance</em> (and Trump didn’t actually say it himself), and Venezuela’s situation is changing <em>hourly.</em> It wouldn’t take much for this to change on a dime, but I can guarantee you one thing, Canada will not be part of an effective military solution.</p>
<p>Despite their lead in creating the Lima Group in 2017, a coalition of regional Latin American countries to work on a solution to the Venezuela problem, Canada will never take action in line with U.S. policy, especially U.S. policy directed by Trump. Not only are they still hurting badly by Trump’s huge NAFTA beating (just ask any Canadian), the country has long suffered from an inferiority complex under their southern neighbor. They have longed to be seen as a world leader, desperate for <em>any</em> issue which would boost the country’s esteem and importance on the world stage, and they jumped all over Venezuela.</p>
<p>The U.S. even graciously stepped aside on Lima, letting Canada “take the lead” and not “polluting” the group with anti-Imperialist U.S. criticism. Canada’s intentions might have been good, their motivations totally understandable, but their big problem?</p>
<p>They forgot who they were dealing with, a <em>dictator,</em> and they kept insisting that more talks were the answer, and they <em>still</em> insist that! (It was, and is, Adolph Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, and appeasement all over again folks! They just don’t “get it.”) Through their position, they have also damaged U.S. credibility for military intervention, even though that intervention may be the only way to save millions of lives and bring democracy back to Venezuela.</p>
<p>If you want more proof of Canada’s disgusting complacency in saving these lives…and their eagerness to go against U.S. policy…just watch some recent Canadian news media on <em>YouTube</em> about Venezuela. Except for the language(s), you’ll think you’re watching news reports out of Moscow. And by the way:</p>
<p>It was the United States who first recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate Interim President, not Canada and the Lima Group, and boy, did that make them mad!</p>
<p>Interestingly, China and Russia haven’t offered any humanitarian assistance themselves, which would seem like a good political move for Maduro to make. (“We’ll take <em>their</em> help Yankee but not <em>yours!”</em>) This proves that Russia and China couldn’t care less about Venezuelans, that they’re only in it for the money, but who didn’t already know that? More importantly, this shows Venezuelans who their true friends are. Further Russian and Chinese <em>monetary</em> assistance isn’t the answer either (they need the hard food and medicine goods and not the money), because the Chavista regimes, from 1999 through today, <em>have lost an estimated $200 billion to theft and corruption.</em></p>
<p>What will happen next? Plain and simple, no one has a clue, so stay tuned.</p>