BEIRUT, LEBANON (4:25 P.M.) – Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida penned an op-ed in the Washington Post on Friday that argued in favor of U.S. military intervention in Venezuela.
Scott began the opinion piece by heavily criticizing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, blaming him for the ongoing domestic issues inside the country.
“This is a man-made crisis. Nicolás Maduro, the ruthless dictator of Venezuela, is killing his own citizens, including women and children. Venezuela has a legitimate constitutional leader: Juan Guaidó, who, as president of the National Assembly, the last democratically elected body in the country, is constitutionally required to serve as interim president until new free and fair elections take place,” Scott argued.
The Republicans senator then turned his attention to the foreign powers backing Maduro. Scott said the threat of Russian, Chinese, and Iranian troops in the Western Hemisphere is a major concern for U.S. national security.
Scott asked, “do you think it would be in our national interest to allow the Russians — or the Cubans, the Iranians or Chinese — to install military bases there? Naval ports? Should we allow Hezbollahto roam free?”
“We must do all in our power to ensure that doesn’t happen,” he continued.
The U.S. congressman would reference the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which called for the U.S. to prevent world powers from dictating the affairs of the Western Hemisphere.
“To that I say: amen,” Scott said in reference to applying the Monroe Doctrine. “I have no interest in dictating anything to the people of Venezuela. But I absolutely do believe we should dictate a few things to the Russians, the Cubans and the Chinese. No, we will not allow you to set up shop in Venezuela. We will not allow you to take over that country, and we will not allow you to establish any military presence in our hemisphere. We should never allow another Cuba, and we must not stick our heads in the sand and pretend we don’t know what is going on,” he added.
