Millions of Venezuelans have been left frustrated by the apparent stealing of their country’s recent presidential election by the incumbent, Nicolás Maduro. Exit polls had suggested that the opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, was leading by a wide margin of nearly 70 percent to Maduro’s 30 percent. The opposition managed to secure over 80 percent of the vote tally sheets and uploaded images of them onto the internet to prove that Maduro indeed lost the election. In spite of that overwhelming evidence, Maduro declared himself the winner.

Venezuela’s last presidential vote in 2018 was similarly disputed. Maduro claimed victory in what was described as a sham election by the U.S. and other Western countries. That prompted the opposition at the time to form an interim government, which was widely recognized overseas. Additionally, the U.S. and its allies imposed severe sanctions on the Maduro regime. All that, and months of demonstrations by tens of thousands of Venezuelans, did nothing to dissuade Maduro. If anything, he became even more entrenched in power as the protests fizzled out.

In the past couple of weeks, there have been multiple complaints that leaders of the U.S. and other democratic nations are not doing enough to help the Venezuelan people rid themselves of the oppressive regime that has immiserated them. While the world watches, the regime has arrested and jailed thousands of protesters. Several have reportedly been disappeared. Urrutia, and the main leader of the opposition movement, María Corina Machado, who Maduro barred from running in the election (the reason for Urrutia’s candidacy), are both said to have gone into hiding.

There are two main reasons for the global inaction. First, the Maduro regime has powerful patrons, including Russia, China, Iran, and some Latin American countries, who help counteract whatever penalties the U.S. and its allies impose. Second, there is U.S. diplomatic fatigue. After the debacles in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in recent years, there seems to be no national appetite for any foreign engagements nowadays. It is the reason Haiti has been burning in America’s backyard in the last couple of years with little attention paid to it in Washington. Unfortunately, without U.S. leadership, the rest of the democratic world suffers paralysis.

Also, the leaders of China, Russia, and other nations who prop up dictators like Maduro have somewhat successfully managed to defang America by accusing it of lacking the moral authority to call for democracy in the rest of the world. To some extent, the U.S. has to plead guilty to that charge. That is because America has helped its own “bastards” stay in power in the past when it suited its interests. Despite that, the moral equivalence argument by the autocrats in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran shouldn’t be tolerated that easily. The overwhelming majority of the world’s people want to live in free societies, and there is no dispute that historically, the U.S. and its democratic allies are the ones who have championed their causes. The only business these autocrats are in is the brutal subjugation of populations, both internally and externally.

Our planet doesn’t have many angels on it, unfortunately. Therefore, quite frequently, we are faced with unpalatable choices in our dealings with others. And as is often said, where one stands on any issue depends on where one sits. If I were sitting in the place of an ordinary Venezuelan today, I am pretty sure which devil I would want to march with.