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Open Letter by Over 70 Scholars and Experts Condemns US-Backed Coup Attempt in Venezuela

23 January 2019, Venezuela, Caracas: Juan Guaidó, the head of Venezuela's opposition-dominated National Assembly, declares himself interim president at a rally against Nicolas Maduro. Rafael Hernandez/DPA/PA Images.

The United States government must
cease interfering in Venezuela’s internal politics, especially for the purpose
of overthrowing the country’s government.

Actions by the Trump administration
and its allies in the hemisphere are almost certain to make the situation in
Venezuela worse, leading to unnecessary human suffering, violence, and
instability.

Venezuela’s political polarization is not new; the country has long
been divided along racial and socioeconomic lines. But the polarization has
deepened in recent years.

This is partly due to US support for an opposition
strategy aimed at removing the government of Nicolás Maduro through
extra-electoral means. While the opposition has been divided on this strategy,
US support has backed hardline opposition sectors in their goal of ousting the
Maduro government through often violent protests, a military coup d’etat, or
other avenues that sidestep the ballot box.

Under the Trump administration, aggressive rhetoric against the
Venezuelan government has ratcheted up to a more extreme and threatening level,
with Trump administration officials talking of “military action” and
condemning Venezuela, along with Cuba and Nicaragua, as part of a “troika of tyranny.” Problems resulting
from Venezuelan government policy have been worsened  by US economic
sanctions, illegal under the Organization of
American States and the United Nations ― as well as US law and other
international treaties and conventions.

These sanctions have cut off the means
by which the Venezuelan government could escape from its economic recession,
while causing a dramatic falloff in oil production and
worsening the economic crisis, and causing many people to die because they
can’t get access to life-saving medicines. Meanwhile, the US and other
governments continue to blame the Venezuelan government ― solely ― for the
economic damage, even that caused by the US sanctions.

Now the US and its allies, including OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro
and Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, have pushed Venezuela to the
precipice.

By recognizing National Assembly President Juan Guaido as the new
president of Venezuela ― something illegal under the OAS Charter ― the Trump
administration has sharply accelerated Venezuela’s political crisis in the
hopes of dividing the Venezuelan military and further polarizing the populace,
forcing them to choose sides.

The obvious, and sometimes stated goal, is to
force Maduro out via a coup d’etat.

The reality is that despite hyperinflation, shortages, and a deep
depression, Venezuela remains a politically polarized country. The US and its
allies must cease encouraging violence by pushing for violent, extralegal
regime change.

If the Trump administration and its allies continue to pursue
their reckless course in Venezuela, the most likely result will be bloodshed,
chaos, and instability. The US should have learned something from its regime
change ventures in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and its long, violent history of
sponsoring regime change in Latin America.

Neither side in Venezuela can simply vanquish the other. The military,
for example, has at least 235,000 frontline members, and there are at least 1.6
million in militias. Many of these people will fight, not only on the basis of a
belief in national sovereignty that is widely held in Latin America ― in the
face of what increasingly appears to be a US-led intervention ― but also to
protect themselves from likely repression if the opposition topples the
government by force.

In such situations, the only solution is a negotiated settlement, as
has happened in the past in Latin American countries when politically polarized
societies were unable to resolve their differences through elections.

There
have been efforts, such as those led by the Vatican in the
fall of 2016, that had potential, but they received no support from Washington
and its allies who favored regime change. This strategy must change if there is
to be any viable solution to the ongoing crisis in Venezuela.

For the sake of the Venezuelan people, the region, and for the
principle of national sovereignty, these international actors should instead
support negotiations between the Venezuelan government and its opponents that
will allow the country to finally emerge from its political and economic
crisis.

Signed:

Noam Chomsky, Professor Emeritus,
MIT and Laureate Professor, University of Arizona 

Laura Carlsen, Director,
Americas Program, Center for International Policy 

Greg Grandin, Professor of
History, New York University 

Miguel Tinker Salas, Professor
of Latin American History and Chicano/a Latino/a Studies at Pomona College 

Sujatha Fernandes, Professor
of Political Economy and Sociology, University of Sydney 

Steve Ellner, Associate
Managing Editor of Latin American Perspectives 

Alfred de Zayas, former UN
Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International
Order and only UN rapporteur to have visited Venezuela in 21 years 

Boots Riley, Writer/Director
of Sorry to Bother You, Musician 

John Pilger, Journalist &
Film-Maker 

Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director,
Center for Economic and Policy Research 

Jared Abbott, PhD Candidate,
Department of Government, Harvard University 

Dr. Tim Anderson, Director,
Centre for Counter Hegemonic Studies 

Elisabeth Armstrong, Professor
of the Study of Women and Gender, Smith College 

Alexander Aviña, PhD,
Associate Professor of History, Arizona State University 

Marc Becker, Professor of
History, Truman State University 

Medea Benjamin, Cofounder,
CODEPINK 

Phyllis Bennis, Program
Director, New Internationalism, Institute for Policy Studies 

Dr. Robert E. Birt, Professor
of Philosophy, Bowie State University 

Aviva Chomsky, Professor of
History, Salem State University 

James Cohen, University of
Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle 

Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera,
Associate Professor, George Mason University 

Benjamin Dangl, PhD, Editor of
Toward Freedom 

Dr. Francisco Dominguez,
Faculty of Professional and Social Sciences, Middlesex University, UK 

Alex Dupuy, John E. Andrus
Professor of Sociology Emeritus, Wesleyan University 

Jodie Evans, Cofounder,
CODEPINK 

Vanessa Freije, Assistant
Professor of International Studies, University of Washington 

Gavin Fridell, Canada Research
Chair and Associate Professor in International Development Studies, St. Mary’s
University 

Evelyn Gonzalez, Counselor,
Montgomery College 

Jeffrey L. Gould, Rudy
Professor of History, Indiana University 

Bret Gustafson, Associate
Professor of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis 

Peter Hallward, Professor of
Philosophy, Kingston University 

John L. Hammond, Professor of
Sociology, CUNY 

Mark Healey, Associate
Professor of History, University of Connecticut 

Gabriel Hetland, Assistant
Professor of Latin American, Caribbean and U.S. Latino Studies, University of
Albany 

Forrest Hylton, Associate
Professor of History, Universidad Nacional de Colombia-Medellín 

Daniel James, Bernardo Mendel
Chair of Latin American History 

Chuck Kaufman, National
Co-Coordinator, Alliance for Global Justice 

Daniel Kovalik, Adjunct
Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh 

Winnie Lem, Professor,
International Development Studies, Trent University 

Dr. Gilberto López y Rivas,
Professor-Researcher, National University of Anthropology and History, Morelos,
Mexico 

Mary Ann Mahony, Professor of
History, Central Connecticut State University 

Jorge Mancini, Vice President,
Foundation for Latin American Integration (FILA) 

Luís Martin-Cabrera, Associate
Professor of Literature and Latin American Studies, University of California
San Diego 

Teresa A. Meade, Florence B.
Sherwood Professor of History and Culture, Union College 

Frederick Mills, Professor of
Philosophy, Bowie State University 

Stephen Morris, Professor of
Political Science and International Relations, Middle Tennessee State
University 

Liisa L. North, Professor
Emeritus, York University 

Paul Ortiz, Associate
Professor of History, University of Florida 

Christian Parenti, Associate
Professor, Department of Economics, John Jay College CUNY 

Nicole Phillips, Law Professor
at the Université de la Foundation Dr. Aristide Faculté des Sciences Juridiques
et Politiques and Adjunct Law Professor at the University of California
Hastings College of the Law 

Beatrice Pita, Lecturer,
Department of Literature, University of California San Diego 

Margaret Power, Professor of
History, Illinois Institute of Technology 

Vijay Prashad, Editor, The
TriContinental 

Eleanora Quijada Cervoni FHEA,
Staff Education Facilitator & EFS Mentor, Centre for Higher Education,
Learning & Teaching at The Australian National University 

Walter Riley, Attorney and
Activist 

William I. Robinson, Professor
of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara 

Mary Roldan, Dorothy Epstein
Professor of Latin American History, Hunter College/ CUNY Graduate Center 

Karin Rosemblatt, Professor of
History, University of Maryland 

Emir Sader, Professor of
Sociology, University of the State of Rio de Janeiro 

Rosaura Sanchez, Professor of
Latin American Literature and Chicano Literature, University of California, San
Diego 

T.M. Scruggs Jr., Professor
Emeritus, University of Iowa 

Victor Silverman, Professor of
History, Pomona College 

Brad Simpson, Associate Professor
of History, University of Connecticut 

Jeb Sprague, Lecturer,
University of Virginia

Kent Spriggs, International human
rights lawyer

Christy Thornton, Assistant
Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University 

Sinclair S. Thomson, Associate
Professor of History, New York University

Steven Topik, Professor of
History, University of California, Irvine 

Stephen Volk, Professor of
History Emeritus, Oberlin College 

Kirsten Weld, John. L. Loeb
Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, Department of History, Harvard
University 

Kevin Young, Assistant
Professor of History, University of Massachusetts Amherst 

Patricio Zamorano, Academic of
Latin American Studies; Executive Director, InfoAmericas