Fighting the bear and the dragon in Venezuela

While we’ve been focusing on COVID-19 recovery efforts, Russia and China have been actively expanding their soft-power efforts in the Western Hemisphere — more specifically, in Venezuela. 

Russia has long meddled with our neighbors to the south, and Russia’s recent actions to establish a “second Cuba” should come as no surprise to anyone. For example, do we really believe Russia, with its own cash-strapped economy smaller than the State of New York, is publicly pledging to send 40 tons of medical supplies to Venezuela as a genuine humanitarian gesture? Should we trust that Rosneft and the Kremlin are engaging in shell-company contortions in order to bring real help to this South American country? Of course not. 

Further, do we really believe China, a nation that hid knowledge of the coronavirus outbreak and still refuses to share critical COVID-19 information with the United States, sent scientists and medical professionals to Caracas to help battle the disease? Do we trust that Beijing is in talks to financially assist the Maduro regime out of the goodness of their hearts? No way. 

China’s influence push is more recent and even more concerning than the long-standing Russian meddling. It is further evidence that President Xi Jinping’s “Belt and Road” debt enslavement trap is targeting the entire world. In fact, China already owns a massive chunk of Venezuelan debt, and they’ve set their sights on attaining even more.