Nicholas Maduro: Killer of Hope

In March of 2020, I led a medical mission team to Cucuta, Colombia, a city located on the border between Colombia and Venezuela.  The purpose of our visit was to care for the thousands of Venezuelan migrants who were fleeing from their country; a nation then teetering on economic collapse due to the incompetent and socialistic policies of its government then led by its president, Nicholas Maduro.

Those who were leaving the country weren’t political ideologues.  These working-class people weren’t leaving Venezuela because they wanted to.  They were leaving because they had to.  Most had walked hundreds of miles to make it to the Colombian border.  It was a perilous trip through the jungle and when they reached the small river that separated the two countries, most were hungry, haggard and in poor health.

Along with our medical attention, through the generosity of one family on our team and in conjunction with chef Jose Andres’ philanthropic “World Kitchen”, we also able to provide meals for thousands of these desperate and needy people.

While there I engaged many of the refugees in conversation and asked them if they had really wanted to leave Venezuela.  Universally they told me ‘no’.  They loved their country, but they had no choice.  They left because life in Venezuela had become unbearable.  Through tears they explained to me in Spanish, “no hay trabajo” (there is no work), “no hay dinero” (there is no money), “no hay comida” (there is no food), “no hay medicinas” (there are no medicines) and finally, “no hay esperanza” (there is no hope)”.

That last reason stung me.  All humans need hope in this world and clearly these immigrants had collectively come to the end of their ropes.  They left Venezuela because the unjust and corrupt administrations of Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicholas Maduro had failed them.

The immigrants who we met there were not alone. Over 8 million people (out of a country of 32 million) have left Venezuela in the past two decades.  This is a staggering statistic.  Literally one-fourth of the Venezuelan population had left the country.

The recent capture of Mr. Maduro in Caracas has incited some to condemn his capture and even defend his rule.  Truth told, what happened that night in Venezuela’s capitol that night was a surgical military operation that was planned and carried out with near-perfect precision and those who criticize Maduro’s arrest simply do not understand the level of chaos he had promulgated during his time in leadership.  I saw a tiny scintilla of the human suffering Maduro created during our mission to Cucuta.

Maduro was a bully and he needed to be stopped.  Not only did he create terror in his own country, he is responsible for exporting literally tons of narcotics into the United States.  Many of the recent tragic drug overdoses in our youth are in-part, his doings.

Justice has become a rare commodity in this world.  Rank despots rule too many countries enriching themselves while impoverishing their own people.  Sadly, the international community too often looks away and allows them to get away with their transgressions.

The arrest of Nicholas Maduro was not an act of revenge or vengeance.  It was an act of justice.  Centuries ago, the prophet Isaiah wrote, “For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing.”

I am certain that Isaiah would have nabbed this guy years ago.

Dr. Hamilton is a general pediatrician who practices in Santa Monica, California. He and his wife Leslie have been married 51 years. They have 6 children and 13 grandchildren. He has led over 25 medical mission trips to the African continent.