Increased US pressure on Venezuela raises specter of regime change
Increased US pressure on Venezuela raises specter of regime change
President Trump is ramping up military pressure on Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro, raising the prospect of strikes inside the country, which would mark a major escalation from already controversial military attacks against alleged drug trafficking boats in international waters.
Trump’s confirmation on Wednesday that he authorized the CIA to carry out covert land strikes inside Venezuela is amplifying the possibility he could seek regime change in Caracas.
Such a move would return the U.S. to engagement in Latin America, where it pursued what is understood as a failed 20th-century policy of military intervention.
“One thing that’s been surprising to me, is even sort of in private conversation, people are very, very careful with this issue,” a House Democratic aide told The Hill, requesting anonymity to comment on internal discussions.
“Nobody is at all concerned about Maduro himself. … I don’t know anybody who’s shedding a tear for the guy. … I think the general feeling is more fear, not the fear of Trump succeeding, fear of Trump failing in a way he hasn’t predicted.”
At least one potential danger is whether Trump’s revelation of CIA operations in Venezuela will trigger blowback from Caracas.
“This is no longer a covert operation, maybe not even clandestine … if something goes wrong there’s no deniability for CIA operatives,” said Evelyn Farkas, executive director of the McCain Institute at Arizona State University and a former senior Pentagon official in the Obama administration.
“They will be seized and used as pawns by Maduro, as he has already done with countless Americans and Venezuelans, including our McCain Global Leader alumnus Jesús Armas, who sits in prison simply for going to a demonstration.”
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