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Late, but it’s happening: the Biden administration announced a ban on the import of Russian oil, gas, and coal to the U.S. The step was long overdue, but at least it has been taken. The problem is what is proposed as the next step: to lift the sanctions on Venezuela in order to start buying oil from Maduro.
There is no doubt that this is a tremendous mistake. Maduro is no less dangerous than Putin because he does not have nuclear warheads. He ceded Venezuela to Hezbollah, to China, to Colombia’s far-left terrorist groups and, of course, to Russia. Nicolás Maduro kills and traffics cocaine, as Putin has not done. Maduro is as dangerous a tyrant, if not more so. Going from buying gasoline from one tyrant to buying it from another, who has been allied with the worst enemies of the White House (including Iran), does not sound like a good idea.
Besides, where are the Venezuelans left? To reinstate Maduro in the international community is to seal the grave of freedom in Venezuela. The U.S. would literally be selling out Venezuelans for a few barrels of oil. Unforgivable; but, above all, not very smart.
Meanwhile, Poland has proposed to deliver its old MiG fighters to Ukraine, using the American airbase in Ramstein, Germany. What a great ally of Ukraine Poland has been, unlike the rest of the NATO countries—for example, the United States, which has already come out to disassociate itself from the Polish proposal and to say that it is “unsustainable” and “unfeasible.”
To win over Putin, will, courage and firmness are needed. Zelensky and the resistance have plenty of those qualities, but the rest of the world seems to lack them. It would be a pity if the West ends up sacrificing Ukraine, betting on Putin’s satiety, as we wrote recently in El American.
The Ukrainians do not deserve it.
Orlando Avendaño is the co-editor-in-chief of El American. He is a Venezuelan journalist and has studies in the History of Venezuela. He is the author of the book Days of submission // Orlando Avendaño es el co-editor en Jefe de El American. Es periodista venezolano y cuenta con estudios en Historia de Venezuela. Es autor del libro Días de sumisión.