If there is one thing that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is good at, it is throwing tantrums.
Last week, he threw his latest one with the four-nation Mercosur group, when he unilaterally proclaimed himself the regional bloc’s president, much to the chagrin of fellow members Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.
This time, the feisty left-wing demagogue sent his leggy foreign minister Delcy Rodríguez as his surrogate hysteric.
Calling the other Mercosur countries “the triple alliance,” Rodríguez said she would not allow Brasilia, Buenos Aires and Montevideo “to take by assault” what she said was Caracas’ legitimate pro tem presidency of club.
Never mind the fact that Venezuela is in political and economic shambles.
Never mind that Maduro’s hold on power is quickly slipping away as a result of an ongoing impeachment referendum against him.
Maduro, Rodríguez said, is not going to surrender his God-given Mercosur crown to anyone.
The whole diplomatic tempest started in late July, when Uruguay announced to the other Mercosur partners that it was winding up its leadership of the bloc and believed there was “no judicial impediment” against Venezuela assuming the presidency.
The thought of Maduro at the helm of the free-trade club did not sit well with either Argentina or Brazil, chiefly because of the dismal political and human rights crisis in that country, not to mention its blatant economic mismanagement.
And thus began a flurry of political tug-of-wars to find a viable alternative to the Venezuelan socialist who has, since taking office in 2013, managed to run the oil-rich South American nation into full-blown bankruptcy.
“We are surprised at how they think they can trample on international treaties,” Rodríguez said in a statement she read from the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, just as the other three nations were trying to propose a realistic solution to the multinational impasse.
“The rules are very clear: The temporary presidency is now by right held by Venezuela.”
She even went so far as to say that the diplomatic scandal was a plot “to create economic forces aimed at imploding Mercosur.”
And, of course, the culprit behind that plot was no other than Uncle Sam, who, she said, is willing to sabotage the entirety of Latin American economics simply to oust Madero from power.
In other words, Argentine President Mauricio Macri, Brazilian interim President Michel Temer, and Paraguay’s President Horacio Cartes are all ready to sacrifice their own national development in order to appease Washington and destroy Mercosur.
But, Rodríguez said, despite the plot, Venezuela, would be the sole defender of Mercosur, and with that, she promptly preceded, to hoist the bloc’s flag at the Casa Amarilla, seat of the Foreign Ministry in Caracas.
For now, Maduro seems determined to hold on to the Mercosur presidency, even if it means he might end up alienating the other members and ultimately being expelled from the club.
That could prove to be a very costly price to pay for the Venezuelan firebrand since, at this point, he needs all the friends he can get.
Thérèse Margolis can be reached at therese.margolis@gmail.com.