A militaryintervention to oust Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro remains “a veryserious option” for the United States, according to President Trump’s nationalsecurity team.
“Obviously, that’s aresult that no one would like to see but clearly one that is seriouslyconsidered as events unfold,” a senior administration official, speaking oncondition of anonymity, told reporters Friday evening.
President Trump’s teamhas wielded that threat to deter any attack by Maduro loyalists on Juan Guaidó,the opposition lawmaker whom the U.S. and other Western democracies recognizedas Venezuela’s legitimate interim president in January. Maduro has defied thatpressure by retaining control of the military and loyalty of"colectivos," the paramilitary gangs that blocked the U.S. delivery of humanitarian aid to the country in February.
“We hope that the military will uphold its constitutional duty to protect the Venezuelan people from these illegal terrorist groups known as the colectivos which Maduro is increasingly dependent on,” the senior administration official said.
That unofficiallabeling of the colectivos as “terrorists” appears to be part of a broadereffort in U.S. tactics against Maduro. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wantsPresident Trump to put both the Maduro regime and the colectivos on theofficial list of foreign terroristorganizations, alongside groups such as ISIS and al Qaeda.
“The truth is theMaduro regime built up this network of colectivos as its own private securityforce to protect its grip on power and violently resist any effort to dislodgeit from power,” Rubio said.
The Florida Republicanmight already have an ally in Vice President Mike Pence, who warned earlier Friday that “narco-trafficking, terrorists, criminal syndicates that emanate from a collapsing society in Venezuela endanger nations throughout our hemisphere.”
The intensifyingrhetoric comes just two weeks after Luis Almagro, the secretary-general of theOrganization of American States and the original international scourge ofMaduro, argued that world powers have a “responsibility to protect” the Venezuelan people from the regime.
The discussions areunfolding as U.S. officials acknowledge that Maduro has proven unexpectedlyresilient, due in part to support from Cuba and Russia.
“We’re thinking aboutthe Russian presence very seriously and its ramping up and the growingcomplicated nature of Venezuela,” Kiron Skinner, the State Department directorof policy planning, said Wednesday. “This is not an easy off-ramp for Maduro, as some would have hoped.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/us-military-intervention-on-the-table-for-venezuela
