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No, I am not an apologist for Maduro, and his regime is undoubtedly very corrupt, nasty and inept. Nevertheless, let us be real: the EU and US are NOT sanctioning the regime for its human rights abuses, but because it is anti-Western and socialist. Even if one is prepared to believe the absolute worst about Nicolas Maduro and Delcy Rodriguez, and personally I think at least some of the allegations against them are exaggerated and propagandistic, surely their crimes pale compared to those of the following regimes which the West either likes or at least shuts up about:
- China. Thousands of political prisoners, harsh censorship of the press and the Internet, torture widespread, and severe repression of minority groups like the Falun Gong, Tibetans and Uighyurs. Western governments are remarkably silent about all this most of the time, though would this be the case were China not so big and powerful?
- Saudi Arabia. Tyrannical theocratic monarchy which treats women like second-class citizens, bans all religions other than Islam, spreads and promotes its fundamentalist Wahhabism globally and has pursued a ruthless bombing campaign of neighbouring Yemen, often with Western-made aircraft. Yet they are supposedly reliable friends of the West and much better than neaby Iran.
- El Salvador. Turning to Latin America itself, here we have a totally failed state where ruthless Maras gangs have infiltrated practically every public and private institution in the country, terrorising anyone who comes in their path through kidnapping, extortion, rape and murder. Any elected government has to be in their good books, lest the politicians get targeted themselves. At least one million Salvadorans have left the country over the last two decades, which per capita is even greater than the much-vaunted four million Venezuelans who have left over the same period. Nevertheless, its government is very pro-Western and laissez-faire when it comes to its laws regarding foreign businesses, so once again silence from Western governments abounds.
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