Thread by @ACLatAm

THREAD: As @RepRooney recently told @ACLatAm, the promise & potential of #Venezuela is at risk of being entirely lost to Nicolás #Maduro's dictatorial regime. Under his watch, millions of citizens have fled the country in search of better lives elsewhere. atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/eve…

The standard of living in #Venezuela has deteriorated rapidly since the downturn in oil prices in 2013/14. The ensuing economic collapse has evolved to become what's widely seen as the Western Hemisphere's largest humanitarian crisis in modern history. atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atla…

Economic depression, #hyperinflation, ballooning unemployment, shortages, hunger, crime, violence, corruption, insecurity, pollution, ecocide, confusion, disorder,
chaos, fear and despair. These and other words and phrases
have come to define #Venezuela under Nicolás #Maduro.

Because despite overwhelming opposition from both within and beyond #Venezuela's borders, #Maduro and his network of allied military leaders, corrupt political elites and foreign bad actors have found ways to subvert the will and the constitution of the Venezuelan people.

Indeed, the #Maduro regime's criminal methods of political & financial survival are increasingly diverse and difficult to prevent. As @Miguel_Pizarro told @ACLatAm, combating this requires that domestic & international pressure be unequivocal, emphatic, coordinated and adaptive.

But that's not always easy. As we saw during the recent @AsambleaVE leadership vote, which security forces prevented interim President Juan #Guaidó and his allies from attending, there are no depths to which the #Maduro regime won't sink in its effort to stay in power.

Yet #Maduro's criminality isn't confined to his fraudulent attempt to usurp @AsambleaVE. The regime is also engaged in illegal extraction/trafficking of #gold from #Venezuela's Orinoco Mining Arc, which in turn gives rise to violence, environmental destruction and other problems.

Again, these activities are made possible in part by assistance from foreign bad actors, like #Russia, which contribute to the #Maduro regime's efforts to undermine democratic institutions and political discourse through clandestine disinformation tactics.

These disinformation tactics are well documented in the #AlertaVenezuela newsletter from @DFRLab & @ACLatAm which, among other things, recently exposed the proliferation of inauthentic anti-#Guaidó Twitter accounts in the aftermath of the Jan. 5 election. atlanticcouncil.org/content-series…

And every day these nefarious activities are permitted to continue - illegal mining, disinformation, repression of dissidence and subversion of US sanctions - the task of restoring democracy, peace and prosperity in #Venezuela grows evermore formidable.

As @AKurmanaev reports, this is especially true for #Venezuela's increasingly deprived rural areas, a fact that National Assembly Representative @AmericoDeGrazia (Bolívar state) knows all too well.
nytimes.com/2020/01/13/wor…

Fortunately, as @carlosvecchio and other members of #Guaidó's interim government explained to @ACLatAm last year, they're well aware of the challenges to be expected of a post-#Maduro #Venezuela, and they've planned accordingly: atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atla…

But realizing these plans and initiating #Venezuela's recovery process will require greater support from the US, EU & other foreign partners for #Guaidó and his allies in the opposition, as @jmarczak told @VOANoticias on the sidelines of the 2019 #UNGA. voanoticias.com/a/venezuela-la…

To that end, #Guaidó recently defied the regime's travel ban to go to #Colombia, where he met @SecPompeo and other regional leaders in an effort to reinvigorate global support for the #Venezuela opposition's campaign to oust #Maduro. @mayearmas @santadei reuters.com/article/us-ven…

As part of that same effort, #Guaidó will travel to Europe to hold similar talks with #EU Minister of Foreign Affairs @JosepBorrellF, #UK Prime Minister @BorisJohnson, #Spain Minister of Foreign Affairs @AranchaGlezLaya and other prominent foreign officials, too.

In the meantime, as @DWStweets noted in @ACLatAm's recent panel "Stemming Maduro's Illicit Activities," consensus on #Venezuela is quickly building in Washington. atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/eve…

As @DWStweets explained, lawmakers in Washington and elsewhere in the US are growing increasingly aware of the extent to which the #Maduro regime relies upon foreign assistance to sustain its political hegemony, financial wellbeing and authoritarian grip on #Venezuela.

As a result, lawmakers in Washington have begun to investigate more effective methods of restricting foreign intervention in #Venezuela - especially from #Russia - on behalf of the #Maduro regime.

Speaking with @ACLatAm last year, @SenRickScott, @JohnEdHerbst, @EvelynNFarkas, @fmonaldi and other special guests described what such efforts might look like: atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/eve…

Among other initiatives, @DWStweets and her colleagues have introduced the Russian-Venezuela Threat Mitigation Act, which seeks to monitor and investigate #Russia influence in #Venezuela and produce responsive strategies to counteract it. congress.gov/bill/116th-con…

And by deepening cooperation with international partners such as #Colombia, which has welcomed the lion's share of Venezuelan migrants and refugees, the United States can effectively mitigate the adverse effects of the #Venezuela crisis on the region. atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/eve…

More still, as the @AtlanticCouncil's US-#Colombia Task Force recommends in its latest report, the peace and prosperity dividends yielded by such auxiliary initiatives are significant and ought to be considered in any future US policy toward #Venezuela. atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-resea…

But time is running out for the millions of Venezuelans who, as @mrchavezphoto depicts in his recent photo essay, suffer the effects of Nicolás #Maduro's increasingly authoritarian, illiberal, violent, corrupt, criminal and desperately inept regime. washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/…

Accordingly, @ACLatAm again reaffirms its commitment to supporting a rapid democratic transition in #Venezuela and urges the global community to not turn a blind eye to the happenings there: atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/eve…

How can you help respond to the greatest external displacement of people in modern Western Hemisphere history? @USAID & @the_IDB are crowdsourcing innovative solutions from Venezuelans, host communities and innovators worldwide. Get involved #TogetherVE: juntosesmejorve.org