Americans Should Not Travel to Venezuela Due to Conflict




by Brian Lau | Link to Article

 Summary: Lately, there has been tension stirring between the US and Venezuela. This happened after a politician named Juan Guaidó campaigned to become the "interim president" of Venezuela by rebelling against Nicolás Maduro, the president at the time. Guaidó felt strongly that Maduro's re-election was unfair.
So President Trump and the US decided to speak out in support of Guaidó's cause. The US also imposed sanctions (trade bans) with Venezuela on oil as an attempt to stop the Venezuelan economy from growing and give Maduro less control over the economy. All in all, the US ended up Guaidó to a successful election as an interim president of Venezuela on January 5, 2019. In the following weeks, many people who were loyal supporters of Maduro were very angry at Guaidó's election. Viewing the US as an enemy due to their support of Guaidó, Venezuela began to assault and detain large numbers of Americans, even those who were just visiting. This led to tensions between the US and Venezuela.

Reaction: I am amazed at the quick change of attitude the Venezuelan people showed towards the US. I find it interesting how one nations actions can very quickly provoke another nations and transform reputations like the United States' from good to bad.

History Connection: This event connects to a couple of events in modern US History where the US got involved in other nations to an extent that provoked those nations to view the US as an enemy and stirs up unnecessary conflict. First, when the Saudi government explicitly told the US to withdraw troops after seven to eight years of having US troops staged there following the Gulf War, the US stubbornly refused. Such unnecessary decisions by the US led groups in the Middle East to view the US as an enemy and get revenge, which is what exactly occurred on 9/11. A similar event happened in 2003, where President Bush declared war on Iraq due to false claims that Iraq had a "weapon of mass destruction", thus being an unnecessary action that led to the Iraq War.

Questions for Discussion:
  1. Do you think it was appropriate or ethical for the Venezuelans to harm any Americans, including tourists visiting Venezuela, following this event?
  2. Do you think it was right for Guaidó to rebel and quickly take over as president before Maduro's second term was to be over? Should he have waited?
  3. What actions do you think the US should take going forward?

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 1, 2019 at 10:38 PM

    I do not think it is appropriate to harm people from a country that your country's leader has issues with, as a person should not be held accountable to that extent to their leader's actions. Going forward, the US should try to stay out of Venezuela's politics, as the US has already made its point that it supports Guaidó, and more involvement will lead to more tension.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2019 at 12:33 AM

    To answer the second question, I don't think Guaidó needed to approach the Maduro's presidency with a rebellion. If he had a more peaceful way of handling the situation, rather than teaming up with President Trump to ruin the Venezuelan economy, building tension between the two nations, none of the hatred or violence wouldn't exist. I believe he made the right decision in not having to wait until Maduro's second term was finished assuming that Guaidó's assumption that Maduro's re-election was unfair was right. Guaidó could have asked for a valid recount to see if the votes were properly recorded. If that wouldn't work, he could possibly ask for a re-election with better monitoring, but that would take more time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nick LeeFebruary 3, 2019 at 11:35 PM

    I do not think it is ethical for the Venezuelans to harm any American and in general other people. I think there should be better traveling laws that protect tourists and I know there are embassies but I think there should be ways for citizens to stay safe while traveling.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2019 at 4:51 PM

    I do not believe that it is, in any way, okay that Venezuelans to be harming Americans. It is completely understandable why these people might be upset or angry with US leaders, but that does not make it okay for someone to be attacked because they are from the US. The decisions that the leaders of our country makes does not define what all Americans believe in - often times it is quite the opposite (at least with the current administration). While I do no believe it is right for Venezuelans to be attacking Americans, I also believe the US did not need to get involved in this matter, so the root of their anger is understandable (again, I do NOT believe this justifies their actions).

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2019 at 6:39 PM

    I think that the US should stay out of this conflict. We already have far too much national debt to be making the problems of other countries ours as well. I think that Venezuela should be working towards a democracy, but I do not believe the US should be involved in any way unless US citizens are being put in immediate danger.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2019 at 7:25 PM

    I do not think it was appropriate for Venezuelans to harm visiting Americans because they weren't the ones who decided to help out Guaidó. The US however should have stayed out of Venezuela's inner conflict because it wasn't in the US's place to mangle in. Guaidó should have waited for Maduro's second term to be over to not cause chaos within the country but he did it anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousFebruary 7, 2019 at 8:05 AM

    i dont think it was nessesary for venezuelans to harm the americans. They just wanted to attack the americans because they were from the US. Even though the americans wanted to fight, they should not involve whats so ever.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousFebruary 7, 2019 at 8:11 AM

    I do not think it is ethical for the Venezuelans to to cause harm to Americans, whether they are tourists or not. The US should however be working toward democracy and there should be better travel laws to ensure safety. Going forward, the US should try to stay out of the politics, so they are not in as much danger.

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousFebruary 7, 2019 at 11:41 AM

    I think it is totally inappropriate for Venezuelans to harm Americans, especially just tourists who are visiting the country. This is a big example of targeting people due to their race and should not be performed no matter what kind of person is targeted or how much tension there is between the two countries. I think Guaido should have waited a little longer before taking over because his actions of taking over so early were aggressive and led to the harm caused on Americans. I do not think it would have made a difference if he waited a little longer.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousFebruary 26, 2019 at 12:01 AM

    I don't believe that this is right people should have the ability to travel especially if their doing something as harmless as touring around. and I do not believe that they should use bias in deciding who should be allowed to enter even if their is tension

    ReplyDelete

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