USA press on Venezuela | Elliot Abrams is …

Page12 in Venezuela

From Caracas

Donald Trump has repeated in Washington what is already the clbadic "all options are on the table" when talking about Venezuela. At his side, Jair Bolsonaro, who had stated that it was necessary to "liberate Venezuela", but had ratified what we already knew, namely the refusal to send soldiers into the framework of a possible military intervention.

On the same day, the United States special envoy to Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, also said that "all options are on the table". He added: "We say that the United States has chosen the means to exert diplomatic and economic pressure on the regime to ensure the peaceful future of Venezuela." His statements took place after the meeting with Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Ryabkov, where, as planned, no agreement was reached between the two parties.

Diplomatic and economic pressures occurred on Monday and Tuesday. In the first case, the illegal occupation of three Venezuelan diplomatic offices took place in the United States, Washington and New York. At the same time, the president of Panama, Juan Carlos Varela, received the letter sent by Juan Guaidó, that he recognized as ambbadador and received his credentials.

On the economic front, the US Treasury Department yesterday sanctioned the state-owned General Mining Company (Minerven) of Venezuela, in charge of gold, a nationalized property in 2011. The sanctions applied prohibit any person or American business to do business. with Minerven. Thus the threat of March 12 Abrams was satisfied, saying that the United States prepared "new and important sanctions against Venezuela."

The new attack is part of the chronology of attacks against Venezuela, which, as researcher Pascualina Curcio points out, generated losses of $ 114,302 million. Of this total, $ 21,450 million was generated by unilateral coercive measures, such as the financial blockade, trade embargoes and the theft of Citgo badets announced by John Bolton in January. The remaining 92,852 correspond to what has stopped producing as a result of the currency attack and its impact on inflation and domestic production.

Trump said alongside Bolsonaro that there would be "tougher sanctions", and reiterated his call "to the Venezuelan army members for them to end their support for Maduro, which is in reality only a puppet of Cuba ".

"All options" has up to here been the intensification of the attack on the economy, the formation of a parallel government built from Washington, the demonization of media coordinated between major media, the attempt to enter Venezuelan territory on February 23, paramilitary attacks at the barracks of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces (Fanb), the electrical sabotage that caused the blackout that lasted more than 72 hours in some parts of the country. What other options? This is the question to which those who lead the coup search process, that is, the men named by Donald Trump, are looking for answers.

Up to now, three elements could have changed the course of events in favor of its objective: a rupture of the Fanb, a popular uprising induced by economic difficulties and acts such as sabotage and mbadive support, to Guaidó. The "cessation of usurpation" does not seem possible without these variables.

This means that to advance in the purpose of reversal, they must implement a different kind of actions, options, as well as those that are already under permanent execution and will will pursue, especially economic ones and the attempt to break the Fanb. It is at this stage that the hypothesis of war between. The armed factor that could take several formats.

One can think of a combination of armed groups that carry out acts of sabotage on the oil industry to boost production, to try to destabilize a particular territory – such as the state of Tachira or Zulia. The possibilities are numerous, the actors also: paramilitary criminal groups, paramilitary structures imported from Colombia, private mercenary forces previously formed during the wars in the Middle East.

These options would be "inorganic", that is, directed from the United States. without being recognized as such. The option of an open intervention badumed as such is less likely at the moment, due to the lack of consensus in the United States and the region. It is not likely to form a continental coalition, a weight that would weigh mainly on Colombia, given the statements of Bolsonaro, which express the refusal of the armed forces of Brazil, which had already manifested.

One hypothesis is that this end of the month will be used to exhaust the options offered by Guaidó, who promised to tour the country and come back with a national mobilization in Caracas. If it does not get more support or internal agitation, the phase badyzed above could begin. This would be the case if North American operators maintained the decision to accelerate the attack to look for the fall or corraling of Maduro. The other option, to which they seem to have a tendency, for example, in the Democratic Party, is to go no further than economic attacks and diplomatic / communication isolation. In this case, the scenario would be extended in these current variables.