In front of Trump, Duke excludes the military invasion in Venezuela

Radio France International News from America

February 14, 2019

A lime and sand at the meeting at the Oval Office between US President Donald Trump and his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque. On one side, the two men have perfectly reconciled the need to chase Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela, on the other side, Trump has rebuked Bogota who did not put an end to the illicit coca crops .

With the participation of Xavier Vila, our correspondent in Washington.

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"I want to thank all members of the United States Congress for the support they have given to Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela," said Colombian President Ivan Duque on his first day of visit. official in Washington.

Before the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and US President Donald Trump, Duke reiterated that she shared the same goal: to free Venezuela from dictatorship. However, the Colombian president has not rallied to the position of his American counterpart who, on several occasions, spoke of the military option to solve Venezuela 's problems.

For the moment, the military invasion of Venezuela is only an additional threat of Trump's bellicose rhetoric. But what are the possibilities of this option and what role would Colombia play, allied to the United States for decades?

Eduardo Gamarra, a political scientist and professor of international relations at the International University of Florida, believes that "the possibility that the United States will use Colombia as a military base to invade Venezuela is very distant." President Duque has made it very clear that A US military presence would not be accepted to intervene in Venezuela. "

"As for the Democrats," adds Gamarra, "as a good democratic party, they have a great diversity of opinions, of those who totally oppose any action in Venezuela, who even recognize Maduro as president, even those who recognize Guaidó and they are very much in line with the administration except military intervention. "

Regarding illicit coca crops in Colombia, Trump complained to Bogota until he left the door open for the possibility of sending five thousand soldiers to monitor the situation. "We are working together for Colombia to eliminate what it is growing in Colombia, and for now I would not say they are doing it sooner than expected, but I hope they will do it in the near future." said Trump when he received Duque at the Oval Office.

Duque called the criticism and promised Trump to take action on the subject: "We have presented a future program to put an end to this exponential growth of illicit crops and at the same time allow a transformation of illegal cultures into legal savings in many ways. regions of the world, "he said.

Duque added that both governments are committed to supporting each other to enhance security in the region.

Respondent: Eduardo Gamarra, political scientist and professor of international relations at the International University of Florida.

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