Sen. Rick Scott ’s Venezuela “Genocide” Hype

In media interviews on April 30, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) accused Venezuela ’s leftist regime of engaging in genocide. It was not merely a slip of the tongue; Scott used that inflammatory term repeatedly—as he hadon previous occasions. Foreign policy hawks have resorted to similar tactics to arouse public opinion and generate support for U.S. military interventions in other conflicts, and Scott appears to havethat objective in mind regarding Venezuela.Nicolas Maduro ’s government is indeed a corrupt, repressive regime that has turned what was once South America’s most prosperous society intoa chamber of socialistic horrors. In an effort to suppress growing political opposition, Maduro also has jailed critics and tried to silence the country ’s independent press. The brutality of his security forces was on graphic display during yesterday’s opposition demonstrations when an armored vehicledeliberately plowed into a crowd of protestors. Decent people around the world should erupt in vigorous cheers if the Maduro regime finally ends up on the ash heap of history.Nevertheless, it is a gross misuse of the term genocide to describe what is currently taking place in Venezuela. The United Nationsdefines genocide as acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” Venezuela’s mounting turmoil amounts to a mundane struggle for political power, not a campaign to slaughter a hated target group.Unfortunately,...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs