Venezuelan Opposition Wary of US Invasion

Intervention would undermine Guaido's credibility

The US was counting on this week’s Venezuelan coup to be a success, and now that it isn’t, officials are getting ready to invade the country outright to impose that end result. The heavily US-backed opposition, however, isn’t entirely on board with this idea.

The administration may view coup or invasion as six of one, half a dozen of another, but opposition figures warn that a US invasion would cause more problems than it would solve, splitting the population even further and likely sparking a civil war.

Guaido’s top allies are also very leery of this idea, because even though it would probably get him into a position of nominal power sooner, it would only further the impression that he is a US puppet, as opposed to a grassroots leader.

That would be a problem both within Venezuela and across the region, as America’s long history of intervention in Latin America would be informing many states on where Guaido’s power actually lies, and who he has to keep happy to hang on to that long-sought position.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.