[The Man]

The problem as I see it is that there is essentially no trustworthy faction in Venezuela. Chávez, for all his numerous faults, made sincere and wide-ranging efforts to alleviate poverty and illiteracy throughout the country. Maduro seems to have no such intentions. The opposition seems united more in its dislike of Maduro than in any particular concern for the poor of the country. The United States has a long history of making things worse by intervening in Latin America; even if we had a trustworthy government, which we absolutely do not, there would be no guarantee that our efforts wouldn’t backfire.

“Let the people of Venezuela decide what to do” sounds good in principle, but there’s no guarantee that (1) there would be free and fair elections (2) that wouldn’t lead to a result like Brazil’s (though I don’t particularly believe those were free or fair elections either).

I will say that one factor I find particularly alarming is the rate of hyperinflation. You saw that sort of thing in Germany during the Great Depression, and to put it mildly, that did not do wonders for the long-term survival of the Weimar Republic.

I don’t know what can be done. It’s obvious there’s a massive humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. It’s not obvious that anyone proposing foreign intervention has any ideas that would actually be likely to alleviate the problems there; in fact, the evidence seems to suggest quite the reverse.