The crass and blatant use of aid as a political tool is least damaging to Venezualans who live in a relatively stable state. It is much more damaging to all legitimate recipients around the world whose governments and other non-state actors may stop trusting aid organisations.
This attempt is similar to past American use of a fake vaccination program to gather intelligence on Osama bin Laden's family. As a direct result of that, also crass, action real aid workers were murdered by fundamentalist militants and terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
USAID has been doing sterling work in many countries all over the world. The current actions in Venezuala will undermine its work among communities that badly need the support. On top of that the reduced trust of aid workers, American and other nationalities, will create problems of trust and endanger lives.
Governments will, rightly, become suspicious that aid and USAID may be used by The USA in coercive or some other endesired action against them. My worry is not those governments and the Americans, but the people who need and sometimes depend on the aid in life and death situations.
They will become victims of a clumsy foreign policy that lanks in finese and diplomatic skill. I am not a fan of Maduro. His populist policies are very much similar to those I have witnessed destroy my country's economy. Bur right now Venezualans are being asked to choose between a viper and a rattlesnake, both venomous snakes.
I do not think American policies will help Venezualans. I think they are more likely to cause the state to impplode followed by a period of chaos as we have witnessed in Iraq and Libya. It is possible that is what the Americans want. Their actions look like the classical divide and rule script.
