Final Word from Tuesday, October 25, 2022

William Newman, a former reporter for the New York Times, wrote in the newspaper on Oct. 8 that the U.S. needs a policy toward Venezuela that is based on fact, not fiction, and that the fact is that Nicolás Maduro is the president of Venezuela, not Juan Guaidó. The Financial Times wrote late last week that the Venezuelan opposition is discussing a plan to wind up its interim government and to abandon Guaidó's claim to the presidency. "The political maneuvering among the opposition coincides with a desire by the U.S. and Europe, Guaidó’s main backers, to explore new sources of oil to replace Russian crude," the FT reported. The Czech government still recognizes Guaidó as the president, and Foreign Min. Jan Lipavský spoke at the U.N. in Sept. about Venezuela's human-rights abuses. If the U.S. and Europe decide to close their eyes to these abuses in the interest of securing non-Russian oil, the ideological Lipavský will be forced to choose between his principles and his allies. [ Czech Republic oil sanctions United National United States ]