When socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was asked directly about Venezuela’s brutal disputed leader Nicolas Maduro on Thursday, she refused to condemn the dictator, just as she’s refused in the past. This time, Ocasio-Cortez — who’s fond of calling herself “the boss” — ironically passed the buck to “caucus leadership.”
National Review’s John McCormack reports:
“Violence is horrible,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells NR when asked to comment on the situation. When pressed on whether the Maduro government is legitimate or Guaidó deserves U.S. support, she adds that she’ll “defer to caucus leadership on how we navigate this.”
The New York representative similarly refused to utter any harsh language toward Maduro when pressed last month. “As a Democratic Socialist, I’m wondering what are your thoughts on the Venezuelan crisis that’s happening right now and if you would denounce the Maduro regime?” a reporter asked Ocasio-Cortez, The Daily Wire previously reported.
“Yeah, so, I think that, that this is absolutely a complex issue. I think it’s important that, uh, that we approach this very carefully. One I am, um, myself just like anyone else who is absolutely concerned with the humanitarian crises that’s happening and I think it’s important that any solution that we have centers the Venezuelan people and centers the democracy of Venezuelan people first,” she responded.
Ocasio-Cortez continued: “I am very concerned about U.S. interventionism in Venezuela, and I oppose it, especially when we talk about a figure like this U.S. Special Envoy Elliott Abrams here. I think it’s, he’s pled guilty to several crimes related to Iran-contra and I don’t think that we should be, you know I am generally opposed to U.S. interventionism as a principle, but particularly under this administration and under his leadership I think it’s a profound mistake.”
The typically hyperactive Twitter account of Ocasio-Cortez has been notably silent regarding the increasingly violent clashes between protesters and the regime, although the 29-year-old has posted at least three tweets promoting a Netflix documentary about her and three other women.
As noted by McCormack, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), an open “democratic socialist” and declared 2020 presidential candidate, has not once offered “condemnation for the Venezuelan dictator nor words of support for the Venezuelan people who are risking their lives by taking to the streets.”
An extreme Democrat who has offered some insights into the severe humanitarian and economic crisis in Venezuela is Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Naturally, she sought to blame the United States for the disaster.
“A lot of the policies that we have put in place has kind of help lead the devastation in Venezuela and we have sort of set the stage for what we’re arriving today,” Omar said during an appearance with Democracy Now. “This particular bullying and the use of sanctions to eventually intervene and make regime change really does not help the people of countries like Venezuela and it certainly does not help and is not in the interest of the United States.”