With a new ban on visas, both governments escalated IGNORE INTO a conflict that may shed some light on what could happen in Venezuela

Leer en Español: Película el Inca y su censura en Venezuela

Relations between Turkey and the United States, former strategic partners, have reached a historic low. The United States’ government announced that its diplomatic representation in Turkey will no longer issue visas to Turkish citizens, except for those who intend to settle in a US territory, and, in retaliation, the Government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a similar stance affirming that the Turkish embassy will no longer issue visas for American citizens. According to experts, this situation rose due to problematic diplomatic relations between Ankara and Moscow, aside from the political clash with Donald Trump who seems to support the Kurds in Syria.

But the tension does not stem solely from these two events. The final and most triggering happening occurred on Wednesday, October 4th when a Turkish employee of the US consulate in Turkey was arrested for alleged links with inciters of the attempted coup of July 2016. The employee is accused of espionage and for working with Fetulá Gülen, a preacher exiled in the United States that the Middle Eastern government considers the brain behind the attempted coup d’état. Also, a second warrant arrest has been issued against another employee of the embassy.

After the failed coup, the American administration refused to hand over Gülen to Turkey creating a source of permanent tension between the two nations.

Due to Erdogan’s authoritarian attitude in Turkey, the previous administration of Barack Obama had been reluctant to receive the Turkish leader in Washington. He had even asked the Ankara government to reduce authoritarian indictments in order to give stability to the region.

A similar situation could rise in Venezuela, where both the Obama and the Trump administrations have demanded the restitution of democracy. However, despite the interventions in which Maduro disqualifies the United States’ arguments while classifying the nation as imperialist, there haven’t been any scandals related to espionage.

However, from Washington, the political pressures that have been placed on the South American country have been mainly economical wishing to hurt the nation on a more direct level. Although Turkey has seen its currency devaluating, it is due to indirect financial mishaps.

For Venezuela, the political relations with United States became worse after a travel ban was placed on several governmental dependencies, as well as lack of visas being issued for the public. This could lead to a similar situation to the one been lived in Turkey due to the lack of political guarantees since both the American Nation and the South American country also have had their shared political misunderstandings.  

Latin American Post | Carlos Eduardo Gómez Avella

Copy edited by Susana Cicchetto