A server | Political panorama

The automatic alignment of the Argentine government on Washington not only reveals the ideologization of Argentine foreign policy, but its eagerness to show itself as the most faithful servant of North American power. The ideological affinity and the simplistic idea that obsequious gestures can attract investment guide (as publicly argued arguments) in a basic way external relations. In a country without a Foreign Minister with his own theft, it is President Mauricio Macri, with his limited knowledge, which exposes Argentina to the most discredited positions in the history of the region.

Venezuela has the largest reserve of high quality oil in the world. The United States is the largest buyer of Venezuelan oil and therefore needs a docile government in this country. Since Hugo Chávez became president of Venezuela, the United States has encouraged conspiracy by dissidents. The system is not democratic in Saudi Arabia. His government is publicly responsible for the persecution of opponents and even for the kidnapping, torture and disappearance of dissidents like journalist Jamal Khbadoggi. But the United States protects the Saudi government because it is its ally in the Middle East.

The Macri government was one of the first to have rallied to Washington's interventionism. If you are looking to attract investment or to ease the negotiations, the experience shows that this is not the case. Two examples: Donald Trump has closed imports of Argentine lemons. For the United States, it's less than a return. But for Argentina, it is the main export of the province of Tucumán. After many twists, the ruling party presented as a triumph a misfortune: the United States accepted lemons in exchange for Argentina to buy his pork to anyone because nobody wants it because the pigs have a ruinous disease, expensive production and is very contagious. .

Second "successful" negotiation: the United States increased import taxes on steel and aluminum. Argentina has fallen into the overthrow. Again, the bargaining table and finally the government announced that it was a triumph that had succeeded in reducing taxes on these Argentine products. The idea was to set a quota for which Argentina would reduce its steel exports to the United States by 10% and aluminum by 25%. They were interested in three cucumbers, lemons, or whatever they could collect with taxes. What the free market champions wanted was to sell their pork and avoid competition in their domestic market for imported steel and aluminum.

The subordination to Washington's foreign policy has not brought benefits, but mistreatment and humiliation. The promised investments did not come and on the contrary, Trump pushed to move the Russian and Chinese investments without replacing them. In return, the United States facilitated the IMF loan. In the midst of Trump's uprisings in Macri at the G-20 meeting, the Argentine President pathetically thanked this management that condemned several generations of Argentines to poverty.

Trump's shameful and hateful treatment at the G-20 meeting of a submissive Macri, full of helpful gestures and attitudes, reflected the relationship a hegemonic government has with an emerging country.

But 2019 is an election year and Macri's desire to be at the forefront of Venezuela's record shows that he is also trying to install it as a campaign theme for Maduro to be equated with Kirchner's governments. Sergio Mbada and Juan Manuel Urtubey have agreed with the party in power, as they have practically done since the inauguration of Macri, in agreement with the official radicals of Cambiemos. But the Front for Victory, including the PJ, expressed in a statement its defense of peoples' right to self-determination and against external interventionism in Venezuela.

The problem with Venezuela is not democracy, but a government that does not align with Washington and the fact that the country is a major supplier of oil. In Venezuela, no dictatorship took power by storm. There is a President who has won the elections and a Constituent Assembly that has been convened and elected in accordance with the Constitution in force. The United States says it's not like that. This is a questionable claim, and therefore no one can make an absolute disqualification that warrants a parliamentary coup attempt like the one the opposition to which the White House opposed has attempted to make .

If there is no dictatorship, but clashes between government and opposition, the principle of the free determination of peoples without rules of foreign intervention. The application of the Democratic Charter of the OAS does not even apply.

The one who has never been elected to the presidency is the opposition Juan Guaidó. Paradoxically, this is the US charge against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was voted in an election in which an opposition sector did not participate because he knew he was going to to lose.

Maduro acknowledged his defeat when the opposition won the December 2015 elections, which gave him control of the Legislative Assembly. After the triumph, the opposition turned the Parliament into a parallel presidency. After two years of paralysis, Maduro summoned the National Constituent Assembly and the opposition launched very violent street protests that resulted in over a hundred deaths on both sides.

Until then, the opposition believed they could win the elections again. In 2015, a large number of Chavists abstained from voting, disgusted by the economic crisis. The two years of ineffectual confrontations between Parliament and the executive, as well as the violence of opposition demonstrations far from opposition to this sector, which was again called by the judgment. The Chavista activist went to fetch her and voted for thousands of people who had abstained before. In this context, the opposition lost the regional elections and then the presidential elections. In all these situations, the opposition was divided, some sectors participated and others did not.

The elections were clean, with more or less participation. There is no real institutional argument for this diplomatic offensive which, in previous experiences, ended with direct intervention.

Venezuela's strong economic crisis can not be an argument for intervention or blockade. This is the consequence of a mono-dependent oil country. The diversification of its economy would have been very expensive compared to the oil rent, but still necessary. No diversified government. And when the price of oil collapsed, the Venezuelan economy collapsed.

With the highest inflation since 1991, the hyper and a record drop in the economy, Argentina is what comes closest to Venezuela, with the difference that the crisis in Argentina is not structural, like that of Venezuela, but comes from the economic crisis. inability of the Macri government.

There is no unanimity in the world or in international organizations about Venezuela. In a very Washington-led OAS, particularly ultra-conservative vice president Mike Pence, 16 countries supported Washington's policy, but 18 others did not. In Europe, the issue has aroused much controversy. There are more countries that have recognized Maduro's presidency than those who have accompanied the United States. Russia and China warned against military intervention.

Internationally, these votes are exchanged for other votes on other issues. This mechanism did not work because, in the world, it is obvious that the self-proclamation of the opposition Guaidó has no real effect in the world. Venezuela and that this would have never been possible had it been planned previously in Washington or Miami. Pence met with representatives of the 16 Allied governments at the White House the night before the vote at the OAS. He then delivered a speech broadcast by regional media channels in support of Guaidó's coup attempt.

Maduro broke off relations with the United States, but Donald Trump said he was not aware of his authority and that embbady staff would remain in Venezuela. It was the prelude to a military conflict. Maduro should have expelled the country's diplomats and Trump would have sent troops to protect them. Eventually, Trump broke off, which meant an implicit recognition of Maduro's authority.

The United States expects a military coup or the creation of conditions for external intervention. The protests of the opposition and Chavismo were very similar on the first day. The next day, street numbers were shifted to different neighborhoods and were more violent. In this context, the armed forces and the judiciary have recognized President Maduro.

The tragedies of Iraq, Syria and Libya are very present in the world. They have been invaded with the same excuses as those who are now agitating against Venezuela and the internal wars provoked have continued until today. They are already adding hundreds of thousands of casualties and billions of losses. The government of Mauricio Macri wants to badociate Argentina with a similar disaster in the region and, at the same time, to install the dramatic Venezuelan crisis as a campaign problem aimed at taking the axis of its enormous economic failure.