Impoverishing Innocent People in Latin America Doesn't Hurt China

Impoverishing Venezuelans hasn’t done anything to “curb” Chinese influence there or anywhere else.

Rep. Mike Waltz reports in from another universe:

One of the hallmarks of the Trump foreign policy doctrine was building partnerships in Latin America to curb our adversary’s influence and strengthen mutual interests with countries in the region. These include: the Trump administration’s successful efforts, along with several Latin American countries, to sanction the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah which is spreading terror cells across South America; the isolation campaign against the Maduro regime to starve his corrupt narco-syndicate government of resources; and designating the Cuban government a state sponsor of terrorism. These actions sent a clear-eyed signal of American resolve to the rest of the world.

Despite all these successes, there is still an enormous problem plaguing Latin America – Chinese investment and influence. 

Waltz is trying to score partisan points here, but these are bizarre things to cite if you want to tout foreign policy successes. The “isolation campaign” against the Venezuelan government has flopped as an increasing number of governments realize that Washington’s regime change policy couldn’t work. The sanctions that the U.S. imposed have caused tremendous hardship for ordinary Venezuelans, and they also created opportunities for many other states, including China, to establish closer ties with Venezuela. Impoverishing Venezuelans hasn’t done anything to “curb” Chinese influence there or anywhere else. The policy has achieved nothing of value. The only things that it signals to the rest of the world is that the U.S. is addicted to sanctions and that it is indifferent to the suffering of innocent people.