Secret meeting in Washington on "The use of force in Venezuela" – 15/04/2019

A group of experts from thinking group US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) held last week a secret meeting on "the use of military force in Venezuela". This was reported by American investigative journalist Max Blumenthal.

According to Blumenthal, CSIS – a two-party institution founded in 1962 on Washington-based issues of defense and national security – a group of advisers on Latin America Donald Trump at a round table to discuss a possible military attack in Venezuela. According to Blumenthal, the meeting included a former Southern Command US commander (SOUTHCOM), a Colombian general and USAID officials – the United States Agency for International Development – and the Council. national. of intelligence (NIC).

Blumenthal wrote an article on thegrayzone.com, in which he explains some details of the meeting, as well as the names of the participants. He also posted the list of participants on his personal Twitter account.

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The meeting would have been held on April 10 under the slogan "To evaluate the use of military force in Venezuela. "

Two meeting participants confirmed to Grayzone that the meeting had taken place exist. But they refused to give information about it.

In total, they would have participated about 40 people, in meeting out of the record badyze a possible US military action against Caracas. Among these people, they were some of Donald Trump's most influential advisors about Venezuela. The list included both former and current heads of the State Department, the National Intelligence Council and the National Security Council, as well as Admiral Kurt Tidd, who was up to date. recently the commander of Southern Command.

Tidd is an admiral of the US Navy. And he was the last commander of Southern Command before the current titling mission, Admiral Craig Faller.

Faller curiously said last week that the United States "could" lead a military intervention in Venezuela to expel Maduro while he remains in government by the end of this year.

"We are on the alert, the crisis in Venezuela could reach this level later this year if Maduro is still standing, it would be as serious," said Faller.

Senior officials from the Colombian and Brazilian embbadies, such as Colombian General Juan Pablo Amaya, as well as government representatives in the shadow of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó also participated in the meeting.

However, in an exclusive interview with ClarinGuaidó rejected a military intervention in Venezuela.

"Here (in Venezuela), in fact, there is already an illegitimate military intervention like that of the Russians and Cubans authorized by (Nicolás) Maduro." And the only one that can authorize a foreign mission and an intervention is the national parliament. This eliminates any possibility of military intervention"Guaidó says Clarín.

However, according to Blumenthal, the meeting organized by the SCRS suggests that the Trump administration explore military options more seriously than before, probably because of frustration due to the fact that no other tool has managed to bring down Maduro.

According to Blumenthal, the meeting took place on April 10 at 3 pm in the afternoon.

"We talked about options … uh … military options in Venezuela, that happened at the beginning of the week," said Sarah Baumunk, researcher working for the Program for the Americas of CSIS, which was also on the list of participants. But he refused to give more information.

MAP