* Venezuela’s government didn’t like it a bit when the former leaders of Mexico, Chile and Colombia–Felipe Calderón, Sebastián Piñera and Andrés Pastrana, respectively–came to Caracas last weekend to attend a pro-democracy symposium organized by the foes of President Nicolás Maduro. In fact, Pinera and Pastrana were prevented from visiting with jailed opposition leader Leopoldo López.
One key takeaway for the U.S.: It matters much more when fellow South American leaders–not Norte America’s Uncle Sam–make the case for democracy in Venezuela.
* There was a time when U.S. partisan politics “ended at the water’s edge?” Those were the days.
Now we have the unconscionable “gotcha” perpetrated by House Speaker John Boehner and friends, who invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress in March. Neither the White House nor the State Department was consulted ahead of time–merely informed hours before it all went public.
This is more than a matter of protocol violation and a nose thumb to the president, who is hardly pals with Netanyahu.
By giving Netanyahu, currently behind in his re-election campaign, an ultra high-profile, Congressional forum, Boehner and fellow conspirators hope to ratchet up pressure on the president and the administration to maintain a hard line in negotiations with Iran over economic sanctions and its nuclear program. At best, they will have made the job of the president more challenging. At worst, they will have undermined negotiations.