Venezuela has a despicable and evil government. It is dead-last in the latest edition of Economic Freedom of the World and a miserable #159 (out of 165) in the latest edition of the Human Freedom Index.

But rankings don’t capture the extent of the misery created by the socialist government of Nicolás Maduro.

As described in my three-part series (here, here, and here), living standards have dramatically declined and there are countless horror stories of human suffering.

I want the people of Venezuela to be freed from the shackles of socialist tyranny. Indeed, Maduro deserves the same fate as Nicolae Ceaușescu. 

Given this level of hostility, one would think I would applaud Donald Trump’s saber-rattling and threats against Venezuela’s dictatorship.

However, lacking evidence of a threat to America’s national security, I’m not a fan of U.S. military action and foreign intervention.

That’s my philosophical position.

I also have a practical you-break-it-you-buy-it concern. The United States will be responsible for any shortcomings of a new Venezuelan government, which will be seen – fairly or unfairly – as a lackey of Washington.

My specific concern is that the Trump Administration might overthrow (or otherwise force out) Maduro and then empower a new government that has a pro-U.S. orientation but no interest in the sweeping economic reforms that are desperately needed.

And when the economy continues to languish, the people will blame capitalism – even though it hasn’t been tried.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that it’s possible, perhaps even likely, that María Corina Machado might be the new leader if Maduro is deposed. And as the Washington Post editorialized last month, she seems to have the right ideas.

With sticks and carrots, Trump hopes to compel Maduro to abdicate power without taking the United States into war. What happens if he succeeds? María Corina Machado, the leader of the opposition, has been giving that question a lot of thought. She has bravely remained in her homeland, living underground, even as almost 8 million of her fellow Venezuelans fled Maduro’s dictatorial rule over the past decade. …The winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize has written a thoughtful and important “Freedom Manifesto”… Machado puts particular emphasis on the need to protect property ownership as a fundamental right. She directly links political freedom with economic prosperity. To reawaken the economy, she proposes privatizing state-owned enterprises and “restoring the development of our oil and gas sectors to the ingenuity of free men and women.” Instead of “unduly interfering,” she wants the government to “provide the conditions to create a free and competitive economy.” Amen to all that. …It only took one generation for socialism to ruin Venezuela and impoverish most of its people. The damage caused by Maduro and Hugo Chávez before him won’t be quickly undone, but it’s possible. …Of course, there’s no guarantee that a post-Maduro Venezuela immediately becomes a thriving, free-market democracy, but we commend Machado for imagining a better future for Venezuelans to rally around.

And here are some excerpts from Ms. Machado’s aforementioned Freedom Manifesto.

A renewed Venezuela will guarantee the right to own property, and to reclaim what was stolen. Property is not a privilege of the elite; it is a fundamental right; the physical manifestation of a person’s lifetime of labor and ingenuity. Instead of unduly interfering, the government will provide the conditions to create a free and competitive economy. Venezuela’s prosperity depends on its citizens’ freedom. History has proven that when government exerts a heavy hand on the marketplace it suppresses the human spirit that provides genuine vitality for growth. …The wealth of Venezuela will never again be concentrated in the hands of a single, centralized power. …A nation where each citizen can engage in commerce without government restriction, think independently, and receive fair compensation from their inventions and the fruits of their labor. Such is the promise of a self-reliant people — people free to build, to prosper, and to lead. …history has proven, when individuals are prosperous from their labor, all other human rights follow.

This all sounds great, but I’ve learned from experiences in the U.S. (and elsewhere) that politicians from supposedly right-wing parties often have good rhetoric but don’t follow through with good policies.

Heck, that’s what almost always happens in Washington!

Here’s the bottom line: Notwithstanding my libertarian principles, I might cheer for Maduro’s overthrow if Ms. Machado is another Javier Milei. I just don’t know if that’s the case.

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Image credit: Agência Brasil | CC BY 3.0 BR.