Irrationality by Venezuela

Mar 26, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

I refer to S/N editorial ‘Irrationality’ published in the edition of 24.3’24.

It is not so much a case of irrationality on the part of Venezuela but more a combination of electioneering, desperation, weakness and timing.

Less than twenty-four hours after the visit of the CIA head to Guyana, Venezuela announced the creation of a ‘new state’ in Essequibo. This appears to be the set modus operandi of Venezuela as established in the light of remarks made by General Laura Richardson of the US Southern Command, the visit of a British patrol vessel here as well as the visit by David Rutley, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Americas and Caribbean, as a gesture of solidarity.

Further belligerent salvoes and ‘irrational’ moves can be expected from across the border with the impending visits to Guyana by a former US President, a former British Prime Minister and the French Foreign Minister when they land on our shores.

Observers have easily concluded that Venezuela is playing ‘Follow Pattern’ in the light of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands having observed and concluded that the international community’s ‘bark is worse than its bite’ and that the UN Security Council is in a state of rigor-mortis is so far as territorial disputes based on national security interests, real or imagined are concerned.

Irrationality is a specific weakness in human cognition, the habits and processes that lead people to false conclusions. In other words, people believing what they want or what they are predisposed to believe. This precisely the case with Venezuela’s latest move.

To understand the irrationality of Venezuela’s decision, it is necessary to understand what is rational. For example, when deciding an important matter, we should take into account all relevant considerations. In some cases, we might decide that it’s not worth the cost in time or money to pursue a certain course of action nevertheless, we are rationally obliged to give each element of the course contemplated at least a brief inspection. If it looks like it will supply substantial guidance to solving the problem – then we ought to follow it up, as far as is practically possible. To do otherwise is to act irrationally, to breach the principle of total evidence. In other words, the very impossibility of a implementing an irrational act becomes a kind of motivation for belief in it.

By acting in this irrational manner the Maduro administration appears to have convinced itself that it has good reasons to believe in what is highly improbable but which in essence is nothing more than an absurdity.

President Maduro appears to be on the hunt for an elusive objective; his dilemma lay in not accepting the truth about Essequibo and to whom the territory legally and historically belongs, that is proving difficult for him accept, thus by simply trusting his beliefs he has become trapped in misapprehending what the world holds as a ‘March Of Folly.’

Clearly, Maduro’s obsession with the Essequibo has impacted his susceptibility to a host of fallacies resulting in calculative errors that are to be found in his administration being blind to hemispheric realpolitik. In the circumstances, his irrationality should not escape our rational scrutiny.

Venezuela’s false steps in its actions towards Guyana reveal errors in reasoning, hubris and arrogance, but above all, modesty.

Yours faithfully,

Clement J. Rohee

combination, David Rutley, desperation, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Americas, Venezuela

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