Hillbilly wisdom: Under the Venezuelan constitution, if a president’s absence is declared permanent, a new presidential election must be called within 30 days. Is the Venezuelan president permanently absent? Assuming removal by a foreign power is a reason for declaring the president permanently absent then Venezuelan elections will be within thirty days of declaring the presidents absence permanent. Maduro’s next court date is in March, long after the 30 days needed for an election. This is a successful displacement of a foreign official or the creation of chaos for the Venezuelan people.

Venezuelans have placed the vice president in charge of the daily operations interim president subsequent to actual election. But President Trump says “US will run the country until a proper transition can take place”.

Who the F*** does he think he is? “This position is not the position of the United States? We did not invade Venezuela by the president’s own acknowledgment. The actions taken were a law enforcement effort. Nothing in a law enforcement actions gives police the power to take over sovereign territories. This is not martial law. When Maduro was apprehended the United States mission was accomplished. The legalities of the mission are yet to be decided. But the presence of the United States is not needed.

Sanctions were put in place during the first Trump administration with the stated purpose of forcing regime change. Further, restrictions stopped the oil for debt swaps arrangement leaving Venezuela with no means to repay debt owed American oil companies. Now Trump wishes to run the country to recover the debts owed. The use of the American military as a collection agency is unacceptable!

Any Claims against the government of Venezuela by the oil cartel can be taken up in the appropriate court.

“We are going to fix it” is a bullshit story, fake news, or a lie. The first Trump administration deliberately created this situation so the US could take control of the heavy crude oil reserves which are critical to the present refining system of the United States. 70% of imported oil into the United States is heavy crude found primarily off the coast of South America and in the sands of Canada. The present tariffs and sanctions in place have created an unstable production environment. So the Trump administration has used force to take what he wants! Where are you, Congress? These unauthorized actions are unacceptable!

In an effort to walk back Trump’s statements, Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the US aims to prevent adversaries from controlling Venezuela’s oil. The question is whose adversaries are we talking about? American adversaries and Venezuela’s adversaries are not necessarily the same. Some would say the United States is an adversary of Venezuela?