Why Russia, China are fighting U.S. push against Venezuela’s Maduro

The United States continues to squeeze and isolate the Venezuelan regime led by Nicolas Maduro with even more sanctions and support for opposition leader Juan Guaido. But more than a week after protests erupted through the streets of the embattled nation, Maduro remains steadfast – with the hand of Russia and China working in and out of the shadows, complicating U.S. efforts to foster change.

“Russia and China are using Venezuela as a proxy conflict to challenge the U.S. This is more than just economic support. Russia and China are leveraging its economic support to establish a military-industrial presence in Venezuela,” Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society, an independent global research group, told Fox News.

“It’s a geopolitical chess game.”

But if it’s a chess game, it’s one that goes along with a massive and sobering military threat that’s no game at all, with China and Russia standing to lose a lot if Maduro is replaced by a U.S.-backed government.

For starters, China has a satellite tracking facility at the Capitán Manuel Rios Air Base in Guárico, while Russia has a cyberpresence at the Naval Base Antonio Diaz “Bandi” in La Orchilla, an island north of Caracas.

“This adds space and cyberspace capabilities that the Maduro regime does not have,” Humire pointed out. “For Russia and China, pressuring the U.S. via Venezuela adds leverage to their regional ambitions in Ukraine and Eastern/Central Europe (for Russia) and Taiwan and South China Sea (for China).”