Good post. Of course it’s not about drugs (and not at all about fentanyl!).
No doubt Rubio is thrilled at the prospect of the collapse of (1) Cuba and (2) the Maduro regime, but what’s the potential blowback if this plan succeeds?
We always like to imagine there will be a peaceful (or mostly peaceful) transition to the new ruler of our choice, but too often it does not work out that way. We might see Venezuela transformed into a sort of Libya on the Caribbean. We all know the ills launched from the failed state of Libya (the one on the Med) — floods of migrants, terrorists and crime, plus destabilization of countries in the Sahel (take that, France). Obama’s gift that keeps on giving. :(
And what if it isn’t successful and Maduro turns out to be as immovable as the Houthis are indestructible? I guess we could do what we did with the Houthis, declare victory and go home. “We blew up all your little boats, now bye!”
I don’t think a behavioral equivalency can be drawn between Latin Americans\Venezuelans and Mediterranean Muslims\Libyans. Libyan was\still is a tribal society* with a thin veneer of government. Remember Qaddafi was from the Banu Qadhadhfa tribe. (Hence his name Mommar al-Qaddafi, i.e. Mommar of the Qadhadhfa. They are notable for their role in the 1969 coup d’état King Idris.) Venezuela doesn’t have that instant fragmentation that tribal-based cultures have. As long as the US makes no attempt to govern\occupy. Venezuela will just settle into something like the normal Latin American routine. The is hopeful the trends to something other the a quasi-leftist comandante are on-going.
* The tribal basis of much of the world (Third World) is conveniently ignored by our 30 second sound bite media. Not only does explaining that not fit in the news program format it doesn’t fit the mindless leftist “all-cultures-are-equivalent-only-the-West-particularly-the-US-are-bad” narrative. They don’t want you thinking comparing and forming some independent opinion.