About the author, Jan. 30 -- Jerry Haar is a business professor at Florida International University, a fellow at the Baratta Center for Global Business Education at Georgetown University and New York University's Development Research Institute and a member of the International Executive Resources Group.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a Senate hearing Wednesday highlighted a three-stage plan for the U.S. to shepherd Venezuela's transition from a narco-kleptocracy under President Nicolas Maduro, whom the U.S. seized on Jan. 3, to an open-market democracy. Rubio, direct as he always is, made clear this won't happen anytime soon. "It's not even been four weeks," he said.

The Trump administration is understandably anxious to establish sta...