Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife both plead not guilty on drug trafficking charges after they were arraigned on Monday afternoon at a federal courthouse in New York City.
This came after they were taken from their home over the weekend, a move Pennwest Edinboro Professor Dr. Gerry Gendlin believes was handled well.
According to Dr. Gendlin, “I question the methods, but I don’t necessarily question the goals. I think getting rid of Maduro is a good thing for the United States. If you are going to do this thing, this is the way to do it. The military did it very well, this was a targeted action, it was accomplished relatively quickly. There were no American causalities, we are hearing there may have been Venezuelan and Cuban causalities. But if you are going to do this kind of the thing, this is the way to do it. “
Dr. Gendlin read the indictment and said there was a lot of evidence that supports the idea that Maduro was involved with drug trafficking.
However, Dr. Gendlin could see the defense saying that Maduro and his work was separate from the country of Venezuela and the drug trafficking that was happening.
Dr. Gendlin shared his thoughts on the lasting effect this move could have on relationships with other countries, “It’s not just about other countries in the region, but it’s about what Russia thinks and what China thinks because when Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States said that’s in violation of international norms, you can’t go attacking other countries and here we are doing something just like that.”
But he does believe there could be some positive changes happening in Venezuela
According to Dr. Gendlin, “With President Trump you have to look beyond the strong statements to see what he actually means. He is often misinterpreted. A lot of things he brings upon himself by the way he says things in a broad way. He doesn’t mean the United States is going to go in there and operate the mechanisms of government, what he means is that the United States is going to tell Venezuela how to behave.”
Dr. Gendlin also stressed that this was a law enforcement operation with help from the military. It wasn’t just the military that conducted this operation.