Radio Recap: Is Venezuela the Syria of the West?

Venezuela should be one of, if not THE richest nation in Latin America due to its abundance of valuable natural resources. Yet its failed socialist system has left it in chaos and its people starving under its current regime.

On today’s broadcast we discussed the return of Venezuela’s opposition leader – and Interim President – Juan Guaido, to the embattled nation, at the risk of his own safety. Guaido risks arrest after the Venezuelan Supreme Court imposed a travel ban on him to keep him from leaving the country.

Venezuela’s former envoy to the United Nations, Isaias Medina, spoke to Fox News and compared the current state of his country to Syria.

“Venezuela is the Syria of the Western Hemisphere. We have the same actors. We have Russia, Iran, and Turkey . . . add to this mix China, plus FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), ELN (National Liberation Army of Colombia), Hezbollah and 60 non-state actor groups, armed, that are acting against the civilian population. We are in the evidence of a proxy puppet game of thrones.”

Venezuela, a socialist government, continues to refuse to act within the confines of the laws, committing on going human rights violations. Meanwhile some of our own presidential candidates, such as self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders, refuse to condemn Venezuela or its socialist dictator, Nicholas Maduro.

Like Syria, Venezuela has now aligned itself with Iran and Hezbollah, as well as Russia and China.

Venezuela hands out passports and other diplomatic documents to members of Hezbollah, allowing operatives of the terrorist organization to move around the world much more freely.

We need to impose stern sanctions on nations that support Maduro while he runs rampant over the needs and wants of his own people, and reengage with our international partners to pressure the Venezuelan government to remove Maduro and stop the human rights abuses.

We also gave you an update on other international issues today, specifically the case of Christian pastor John Cao – a U.S. permanent resident – unjustly imprisoned in China. This week will mark 2 years in prison because of his Christian faith. We recently told you how his appeal hearing had been arbitrarily delayed for the fourth time now. We’ve made interventions on his behalf at the U.N. previously, and we will be in Geneva to make an oral intervention on March 15th.

We also let you know about a big win we just had at the U.N. for American Pastor Andrew Brunson. The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention – which only takes on a handful of cases each year – ruled that Turkey had violated Pastor Andrew’s rights, and recommended Turkey expunge his record as he’d committed no crime, and pay him reparations. Though he is already free, this marks an important legal victory for Pastor Andrew.

We are also dealing with a situation in Nigeria. The Islamic militia Boko Haram is holding a 15-year-old Christian girl Leah Sharibu and demanding ransom or threatening to kill her, because she won’t renounce her faith. Tomorrow we are making a key oral intervention at the U.N. Human Rights Council on behalf of Leah and other endangered Christians, demanding the international community act to free her and protect all of Nigeria’s violently persecuted Christians.

You can listen to the entire episode here.