I beg to differ with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley on her recent assessment of Venezuela as a dangerous center of narcotics trafficking.

Frankly, the U.S. has no business in other countries, nor should we be threatening people in the way she has. People’s lives are at risk. If Haley truly cared about the people of Venezuela, she would go there and meet directly with them to learn about their needs.

With regard to drugs, I suggest she look to Colombia, Afghanistan and Mexico. Drugs are certainly flowing into the U.S. because of the high demand and the ability for the wealthy to pay. Venezuela is hardly a huge source of drugs compared with other countries. Moreover, the U.S. war in Afghanistan has only served to increase U.S. access to drugs from that country.

In Latin America last week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson did not rule out an overthrow of the Venezuelan government by the Venezuelan military. The Trump administration has stated that it will not recognize the results of the country’s upcoming elections. I imagine that the ambassador’s and the administration’s focus on violently taking over countries such as Venezuela has to do with distracting the U.S. public from the sexism, racism and economic raiding of the American public that the administration is facilitating.

Moreover, I expect the U.S. and ExxonMobil would like nothing less than an excuse to seize access to Venezuela’s oil.

Simply put: The U.S. should keep our hands off Venezuela, get out of the 172 countries and territories we have troops in, and close and stop building bases.

Ginny Schneider

Portland