Trump to Use Frozen Venezuela Funds to Try for Regime Change

US holds over $300 million in Venezuelan government funds

Over a year after the Trump Administration seized Venezuela’s funding as part of its effort for regime change, officials now say they are going to tap into that money to try to fund the regime change, which so far have failed to make progress.

The US has been trying to enforce a regime change in Venezuela for over year. Initially this amounted just to the US recognizing a change had happened, and pushing the rest of the world to do the same. Between that and a failed coup, there were reports the administration was getting tired of not making progress.

About $300 million in funds are frozen by the US and will be made available to the regime change efforts. This includes $20 million that will be used to send pandemic relief to Venezuela. What the rest will be spent on remains to be seen.

The administration has previously refused to rule out direct military intervention, though the most recent bid, a mercenary group from Florida, ended in abject failure, and they’ll probably want a better idea before taking another shot at it.

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.