VOA: Eric Farnsworth on the Latest Developments in Venezuela

AS/COA vice president Eric Farnsworth spoke to Voice of America Encounter podcast about the recent political developments in Venezuela. On the Russian involvement in Venezuela, Farnsworth said that "this is something that not just the United States but also the Lima Group have condemned for being unhelpful for political transition in Venezuela and in deed for democracy in the Western hemisphere."

Farnsworth also discussed the current humanitarian crisis in the country. "Venezuela is a country in full scale collapse...This is a country that cannot provide for its own citizens," said Farnsworth. "The rate of poverty today is higher than when Hugo Chávez first came to power at the end of the last century. You are starting to see the migratory patterns show that, people leaving the country are increasingly less wealthy."

On what he thinks the U.S. strategy for the restitution of democracy in Venezuela is, Farnsworth said it "seems to be based on the anaconda snakes that you may find in Venezuela, they kill their prey by very slowly constricting. You continue to ramp up pressure through sanctions that put pressure on the regime to either change course and begin to restore democracy or in fact leave the scene all together and allow a transition government to come into place and then call to elections."

Farnsworth finally referred to the meeting President Jair Bolsonaro had in Washington with President Donald Trump. “It was a lovefest, the hope is in both governments that that personal relationship may begin to trickle down into the broader bilateral relationship institutionally."