Speaking Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, President Trump said he believed it would be easy for the Venezuelan military to launch a coup d’etat and impose regime change. The comments came after the US imposed new sanctions on the Maduro government.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says that the sanctions are trying to prevent President Maduro solidifying his hold on the military. All of this comes just weeks after it was revealed that the US was in talks with coup plotters in Venezuela.
Though US officials apparently declined to back that specific coup plot, President Trump has been said to have repeatedly wanted to invade Venezuela outright. The sanctions seem designed to keep the coup option open, however.
When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the sanctions were coming, he called them part of a “series of actions” against Venezuela. It is unclear what else is coming, however, and President Trump declined to provide any further details, citing military secrecy.
When the President used the term “America First,” I didn’t realize he meant South America.
The problems for the US and for the target country always come after the coup.
A military cannot run a country. We’ve seen that proved over and over, with never a success to suggest exceptions.
There is nothing wrong with military people, they just have no training to run a country, nor any experience. They are trained and experienced in military things. That is not going to change.
What comes after? How many times must be break down for lack of an answer, before we get the message?
Our complaint about Venezuela? Officially it’s about imperfections in their democratic process / repression, although the socialist angle of their economy means the Cold War is still a factor. Now we learn that the sanctions are to keep the president from being repressive enough to prevent a military coup! Maybe it’s the malign influence of Russia and China that is creating flaws in our democracy such that we feel entitled to invade countries to overthrow democracies. That’s even lower than the history of US foreign policy typically stoops.
Those are features of empire.
Indeed, I pivoted to sarcasm at that point. 🙂 Many bugs are features to some as computer programmers would put it, but some of the mistakes are probably just mistakes.
The military could have toppled Maduro two years ago when starving soldiers were stealing goats for food. But then el jefe wised up and put the military in charge of food distribution. (He added medicine distribution a few months later.) Despot’s Rule #1 is “always keep the troops happy.” Well-fed, healthy soldiers are not about to point their guns at their benefactor.
Now if conditions get so bad that even being at the front of the chow line means increasing hunger, all bets are off. Either the military deposes Maduro or they join their countrymen in the ongoing mass exodus. Regardless, the US must stay out of it. The botched Cheney-Bush coup attempt in 2002 cemented Chavez in power for life.
Why is it YOUR business to report this sort of story and interfere? You pretend that somehow the USA is the “good guys” helping the people?
The millions of dollars funneled into overthrowing the Venezuelan government would have eliminated our homeless veteran population. And if a small fraction of the illegal sanctions imposed on Venezuela were directed towards the United States you would be fighting for the privilege to eat dog poop off the sidewalk.
Will this never end? In 2002 the USA overthrew popular president Hugo Chavez, who dared to do so much to help his people. How unAmerican!
The people were able to reinstate Chavez, and it is unlikely that his death was a natural one. Now his successor is being destroyed by the US interference and “sanctions” to destroy the economy and cause mayhem once more. WHY is the USA always able to succeed when another country tries to help its people, not just the rich?