Washington D.C., Feb 8, 2019 / 01:50 pm (CNA).- Sen. Marco Rubio has called the humanitarian and political impasse in Venezuela “unsustainable,” and compared a blockade stopping food and medical aid from entering the country to a war crime.
The senator said leaders of the country’s security forces must choose between their orders and the needs of their families, neighbors and fellow citizens.
In a Feb. 8 interview with CNA, Rubio said that orders to prevent aid from crossing the border are illegitimate and should be refused by officers.
“They are being asked to do something that is illegitimate, they are being asked to do something that – if this were an armed conflict – would be a war crime,” Rubio said.
“Under the Geneva Conventions, the denial of the transit of food and medicine to civilian populations would be a war crime – that’s what they are being asked to participate in.”
The Republican senator from Florida is a key strategist and advisor to the Trump administration on the U.S. response to the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.
Rubio said that while international support is important, the escalating humanitarian and political crisis can only be ended by Venezuelan leadership.
“Ultimately it falls upon the Venezuelan people, and by that I include members of the National Guard, the armed forces, and the police forces, to decide their own destiny and their own future.”
“The international community is here to help and support, but this is their cause.”
On Jan. 23, President Donald Trump recognised opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate interim president of the country. Nicolas Maduro has refused to recognize Guaidó, and clings to power through his control of the military.
Maduro succeeded Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in 2013. In 2017, the U.S. Treasury Department called Maduro “a dictator who disregards the will of the Venezuelan people.”
Rubio told CNA that Maduro must relinquish power to bring stability to a country that has seen more than 3 million people flee the country since 2015 amid spiralling inflation, food shortages and mass demonstrations.
The circumstances under which Maduro might be persuaded to abandon power are unclear, the senator said.
“Do I think Maduro is going to exit power eventually? Absolutely. Do I think he is going to do it willingly? I don’t know. But a lot of that depends on the people holding him up,” the senator said.
“Here’s the bottom line: the rank and file military does not support Maduro, but they are not willing to face the very grave consequences of breaking with him.”
These leaders, Rubio said, have the opportunity and responsibility to allow aid into the country.
“There are four or five senior military leaders, starting with the defense minister [Vladimir Padrino López], who if they were to recognize the interim government, that would be the end of the Maduro regime.”
If military leaders recognize the interim government, Rubio told CNA, they could also benefit from amnesties offered by the interim government but “that window is closing, on them and on the country.”
“The further this goes, the likelier it is that senior military leaders like [defense minister Vladimir] Padrino will disqualify themselves from the ability to receive domestic and international amnesty: because they deny food and medicine and thereby commit a crime against humanity; because they try to follow orders and attack unarmed protestors and civilians.”
“It’s in their hands, they can decide to change the trajectory of Venezuela.”
In the meantime, protests continue in the country and, according to Rubio, the Venezuelan people “are well aware” that the Maduro and his loyalists stand between them and the flow of foreign aid into the country.
“There is no way, if current trends continue, that Maduro holds on to power,” Rubio said. “The question becomes: how does he leave? Does he leave through a negotiated exit or does some other even occur that forces his hand?”
Earlier this week, Maduro issued a request for Pope Francis to act as a mediator in resolving the political standoff.
While the pope said that such a request for mediation would have to come from “both sides,” Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo, Apostolic Administrator of Caracas, appeared to pour cold water on the notion of papal intervention, telling Argentina’s Radio Continental Feb. 6 that the suggestion was “non-viable.”
Rubio told CNA the request for papal mediation is a delaying tactic on the part of Maduro.
“He’s already done this before, the Vatican tried to mediate [in 2016] and it was a fiasco – they walked away from it knowing that he wasn’t sincere.”
“Maduro has a very simple plan: to buy time until he can fracture the opposition and the world’s attention is diverted to some other crisis and away from Venezuela.”
“That’s the model he has followed and he’s trying to pull it off one more time.”
The Venezuelan standoff began Jan. 10, when Maduro was inaugurated at the start of his second term. Both the National Assembly and the Venezuelan bishops’ conference declared at that time Maduro’s 2018 reelection to be invalid. Guaidó declared himself the nation’s interim leader Jan. 23.
Rubio paid tribute to Guaidó and other opposition leaders in the country, noting the real dangers they face.
“I have tremendous admiration for the risk that they are taking,” Rubio said. “They have always been at risk, there are a significant number of opposition leaders dead, in jail, or in exile as a result of this regime.”
But, he said, those committed to seeing genuine democracy in Venezuela recognize that they have had no other practical option than to put themselves at risk.
“As they themselves will tell you, the alternative would be for them to surrender and give in and live under this tyranny or have to leave their country.”
The senator told CNA that direct intervention by U.S. personnel – military or otherwise – remains “a controversial concept.”
“What there is a strong international consensus behind is that Maduro should not stand in the way of humanitarian relief reaching people who are literally dying,” Rubio said, but the moral imperative lay primarily on those carrying out Maduro’s orders.
“If Maduro is going to order that aid be blocked, then it is incumbent upon those that he is ordering not to follow those orders.”
“The military and its leaders are going to have to choose: do we follow these illegitimate orders that are hurting our own people or do we actually help them to reach the starving people of Venezuela, in many cases their own parents, their own siblings, their own families, their own neighbors.”
Rubio said that direct intervention is not something currently being contemplated in Washington. But, the senator noted, it remains an option to protect American personnel, including those trying to deliver food, medicine, and other aid to the country.
“Any U.S. personnel who comes in danger as a result of actions of the Maduro security forces- there will be grave consequences for it, they are well aware of it and they should govern themselves accordingly.”
“The plan here is not to have a caravan of American soldiers or aid workers entering Venezuela, the plan is to hand this over to whoever the interim government directs so that they can distribute in a non-political way.”
“The goal is to distribute the aid through non-governmental, non-political organizations inside Venezuela, for them to distribute through Caritas for the Catholic Church, the Red Cross and other NGOs that are operating within the country.”
Maduro’s security forces, who have erected roadblocks to prevent aid from entering the country, stand between food and medicine stockpiled across the Colombian border and Venezuelan organizations ready to distribute it.
Rubio said that while international pressure and consensus is important, responsibility for resolving the impasse lies with the soldiers blocking aid from entering the country. The senator suggested they should stand down.
“The choice is theirs.”
[…]
Ever sincere & serious Catholic is marked by their passion for and absorbtion in Holy Mass; yet general knowledge of the origins of this uniquely important liturgy & the significance of its key components is rare. This book can help us to develop beyond the typical instinctive love of a routine, repetitive, religious ritual to a far deeper, participatory involvement of our heart and mind and soul.
As the author of this short review, Diego López Marina, says Fr Michael Lang’s book provides Catholics: “with a tool that will enable them to better understand the liturgy and, consequently, to participate more consciously in it.”
As a lay Catholic with qualifications & wide experience in Christian theology I’m in awe of the perfection of the liturgy of Holy Mass. In every healthy congregation we begin with a sincere, trinitarian welcome to each other. We then acknowledge that none of us can approach God’s Holiness except by confessing our sins and confidently assuring one another of God’s mercy for all who are truly repentant.
Then, being newly shriven, we are confident to approach The Throne with loud exclamations of God’s Glory; recalling that Christians began singing ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo’ before 128 AD. That brings us to the place where we can feast on the soul food of God’s Word: Epistles read and Psalms sung to prepare the way for The Good News of God Himself, welcomed by our cry of: “Glory to You, O Lord!”
Reverently marking our minds, lips, and hearts with the Cross of Jesus Christ – we’re proclaiming – “We believe – We will tell others – We will forever love Christ’s Word”. How precious it is to listen to the Apostles’ account of Jesus’ teachings & life of miracles that confront the world with Eternal Truth, in texts that have come to us from the very start of Christian community, still fresh & vibrant today. “Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ!”
The earliest known creed – the old Roman – dates back to about 110 AD and we join together in loudly procliming our unchanging Catholic Christian faith in its descendant Nicene or Apostles Creed. This is all a grand and meaningful preparation for our approaching the table of The Lord as shriven, praising, worshipful, Gospel informed, orthodox believing Catholics.
How wonderful: Catholics have been singing ‘The Sanctus’ from before 96 AD.
Jesus, our King, calls us to His table to feed on His Holy Body and drink His Precious Blood, so that we can have LIFE in Him and He can LIVE in us. Oneness with Christ is our guarantee of eternal life with God & all those who love God (the whole point of our faith & of The Catholic Church).
We pray out loud ‘The Our Father’ – given us by Jesus Christ, to express His Peace to all our sisters & brothers. Since every Catholic who has ever lived is incorporate in the One Savior, we are given a very potent reason to persevere in loving & serving each other. This is the love that will demonstrate to the world that Jesus Christ is truly The Son of God, given to save us (see, e.g., John 17:23)
As a passionate human: incorporation in this amazing love is highly addictive. As a highly trained academic: the logic of the liturgy of Holy Mass is mightily convincing.
Hopefully the book reviewed will draw clergy & lay together to contemplate the unique wonders we celebrate together in every Holy Mass.
Yes, we read: “How wonderful: Catholics have been singing ‘The Sanctus’ from before 96 AD.”
AND, regarding the threefold “Sanctus” at the beginning every Mass, then near the end we have the culminating Doxology, immediately prior to our sacramental incorporation into Communion: “Through [!] Him, and with Him [!!], and in Him [!!!], O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, forever and ever. Amen.”
Surely, St. Augustine was onto something when he saw from Christ: “You will not change me into yourself, as you change food into your flesh, but you will be changed into me [!]” (Confessions, Bk. 7, Ch. 10). It is “IN” Him that, at each Mass, we join Christ to ultimately give honor and glory to the Father.
So, about Synodality vs/plus (?) Eucharistic Adoration, it’s almost as if, in some neglected sense, “time is [NOT] greater than space.”
Yes, dear Peter D. Beaulieu:
“It is ‘IN’ Him that, at each Mass, we join Christ to ultimately give honor and glory to the Father.”
After who-knows how many millenia of humanity’s futile religiosities, Jesus Our LORD gives us the one & only Way to come confidently into Father GOD’s Awesome Presence.
With two massive consequences, we hope & pray:
1) that at Holy Mass every person will overflow with overwhelming gratitude;
2) that each of us will be whole-hearted to lovingly lead others to The Way.
The logic of this liturgy enacts the most profound reality in (& far above) our cosmos (independently of the authenticity of the celebrant & their assistants).
Understanding Christ’s provision, no proper Catholic will ever hang their head.
Seeking to hear & lovingly follow King Jesus Christ; blessing from marty
Thank you for that Dr. Rice. The reality of the words of institution of our Lord believed is where I found the freedom that Jesus promises those who continue in His Word – knowing the truth and the truth setting us free. Indeed, this body has been given for us – this blood has been shed for us – for the remission of sins.
I wanted to ask you if you know when Roman Catholic theology began teaching that only venial sins are forgiven here in the Eucharist? Whenever that took place, I suppose Mary was sought after 53 times in a singular prayer session to intercede for the one praying at their point of death.
If you don’t have faith in what Jesus is testifying to us in the Eucharist by giving the Father’s children the very body and blood Mary already provided us through her completed intercession, we remain in bondage to unbelief and sin; we are not free, if we don’t believe Christ’s body and blood have been given to us in the Eucharist – for the remission of sins. Just what does the Roman Catholic person who prays the Rosary want Mary to do at the time of their death that Jesus giving of His body and blood has not already completed?
Dear Jeff Lahman, I’m sure you are right, for in John 6:53-59 Jesus assures us of the necessity for true believers to eat His flesh and drink His blood. That is a challenging but foundational part of Christ’s salvific ministry to humankind.
Saint Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29, shows us that – from the very start – believers in Jesus Christ gathered together to do that. This scripture also reveals that – from the very start – some received the Sacred Body & Precious Blood of Christ worthily, whilst others received in an unworthy state.
As you observe, at Holy Mass today, those not shriven of serious sin cannot depend on The Penetential Rite for forgiveness. They should have accessed sacramental penance, in a spirit of true repentance & firm resolve to reform & make restitution where possible, PRIOR TO receiving Holy Communion at Holy Mass.
Thus: unshriven Catholic murders, adulterers, robbers, etc., etc. and those with forbiden allegiances to mafia, freemasonry, satanism, witchcraft, etc., etc. are committing sacrilege by insisting on receiving Holy Communion.
Sadly, no Australian archbishop, bishop, or priest, that I’m aware of, is game to preach this eternal truth. They just permit the unshriven to commit sacrilege without warning them of the serious consequences for their eternal souls.
Paul taught the Corinthian church that: to do this is sinning against the Body & Blood of The LORD; bringing them under GOD’s judgement.
Perhaps this is one reason why we see judgment so clearly impacting The Church?
Dr. Rice, Thank you, again!
I love Fr. Lang’s works, especially “Turning Towards the Lord,” but I must say George Weigel’s lead endorsement on Amazon had me reaching for my liturgical revolver. Whatever the value of his insights on other aspects of the Church, on the liturgy Mr. Weigel is to be avoided.
At 63 pages, this is pretty superficial. I guess it depends on what you want.
I’d go with Adrian Fortescue’s “The Mass:A Study of the Roman Liturgy.”
Oh I’m sorry. I looked at the wrong book with the same title. I still recommend Fortescue’s book, but Fr. Lang’s book seems like a worthy read.