As 72-year-old President Donald Trump prepares for his summit in Hanoi with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un Feb. 27, a crisis has been brewing in Venezuela potentially involving U.S. troops. While Trump’s critics insist that he’s a Russian apologist, the president faces some tough choices dealing with 56-year-old Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicloas Maduro. With the Venezuela economy in ruins, with much of its population wracked by disease, poverty and famine, Maduro has sealed off Venezuela’s borders to the North in Columbia and South in Brazil, blocking thousands of metric tons of humanitarian relief, including vital food and medicine. Maduro views letting aid into Venezuela as proof of his failed leadership, sealing the borders.. When National Assembly leader 25-year-old Juan Guaido declared himself interim president Jan. 23, the crisis began.
Maduro has no intent of surrendering power to Guaido who declared Maduro’s May 2018 election invalid due to voter fraud, prompting a Constitutional provision allowing him to serve as interim president. Guaido promised to join protesters Feb. 23 at the Columbian border to remove obstacles blocking access to humanitarian aid stuck in Columbia and Brazil. Another two pro-Democracy protesters were gunned down by Maduro’s forces Feb. 24, trying to remove obstacles placed by the Venezuelan military at strategic bridges between Venezuela and Columbia. Frustrated by Maduro’s military, Guaido raised the possibility of U.S. military intervention. “Today’s events force me to make a decision to formally propose to the international community that we must have all options open to secure the freedom of our country,” Guaido told his followers in the media and on Twitter.
Sending Vice President Mike Pence and Asst. Secretary of State Elliot Abrams to the Lima Group meeting in Bogata Monday, Feb. 25, Trump paves the way for U.S. military intervention. Stopping Guaido at the Columbian border today ratcheted the crisis between Guaido’s pro-Democracy protesters and Maduro’s socialist government. “The U.S. will take action against those who oppose peaceful restoration of democracy in #Venezuela. Now is the time to act in support of the needs of desperate Venezuelan people,” tweeted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Going to Bogata, Pompeo and Abrams mean business confronting the Maduro government. Sealing off Venezuela’s borders leaves some 30 million people suffering from malnutrition and treatable diseases. Guaido promised to keep maximum pressure on Maduro to eventually get humanitarian aid into Venezuela.
Sending Pompeo and Abrams to Bogata sends a loud message not only to Maduro but to Russian President Vladimir Putin who backs the Maduro government. “Today the world saw in minutes, in hours, the worst face of Venezuelan dictatorship,” Guaido said at a press conference with Columbia President Ivan Duque at his side. Duque’s support for Guaido prompted Maduro Feb. 23 to cut off diplomatic relations with Columbia. Maduro pandered to residual anti-Americanism in Venezuela, saying, “Yankees go home.” “What do the Venezuelan people think of Donald Trump’s threats? Get your hands of Venezuela. Yankee go home,” Maduro told a pro-government rally in Caracas. What Maduro forgets is a sizable part to the Venezuelan population wants Democracy, not dictatorship, to get the needed humanitarian relief in the country. Maduro wants only to hold onto power.
Pro-Democracy protesters in the border town of Urena burnt tires and hurled rocks at the Venezuelan military for blocking access to humanitarian aid. “They started shooting at close range as if we were criminals,” said shopkeeper Vladimir Gomez, whose white shirt was splattered with blood. Pompeo, Abrams and National Security Adviser John Bolton are looking a Venezuela as a test case for restoring Democracy in Latin America. Puerto Rico’s Governor Ricardo Rossello said he ordered Puerto Rica relief ships back to port before the situation can be resolved. “This is unacceptable and shameful,” said Rossello. “We have notified our partners in the U.S. government about this serious incident,” hinting that Pompeo, Abrams and Bolton will urge Trump to use the U.S. military to help get humanitarian relief into Venezuela. Blocking relief operations puts Maduro on thin ice.
Reports of Venezuelan army defections have been pouring in, despite most soldiers remaining loyal to Maduro for now. “You don’t owe an obedience to someone who sadistically celebrates that humanitarian aid doesn’t enter a country that needs it,” Guaido said. Breaking all diplomatic relations with Columbia shows that Maduro has begun his crack down on any pro-Democracy dissent. “For that reason, I have decided to break all political and diplomatic relations with Columbia’s fascist government,” Maduro told cheering backers in Caracas. “The is the biggest battle that the armed forces can win, said Sheyla Salavas, 48, who works in advertising. “Please join this struggle, get on the right side of history, allow the humanitarian aid to enter,” said Salavas. There’s little or nothing the U.S. can do to break Maduro’s stanglehold short of committing troops to liberate Venezuela.
