US maintains "limited" contacts with Venezuelan army to urge them to abandon Nicolás Maduro

The United States maintains direct communications with members of the Venezuelan army to exhort them leave Nicolas Maduro and also, prepares new sanctions to increase pressure on the chavista regimeas confirmed by a senior White House official.

Donald Trump's government is expecting more military defections, the official said at the agency Reuters in an interview, even if only some senior officers have done so since Juan Guaidó He was proclaimed interim president last month.

"We think these are the first stones before we start to see bigger rocks running down the hill."Said the official under cover of anonymity.

"We are still talking with members of the old Maduro regime, with military, but these conversations are very very limited, " he added.

However, he refused to provide details about the discussions or his level and it was not clear if the contacts could cause breaches in the army's support to the chavist dictator, which is considered fundamental to retain power.

A source close to the opposition in Washington had expressed doubts that the Trump government had come to lay the groundwork to promote a wider riot in the ranks of the army, where It is suspected that many officers benefit from corruption and drug trafficking.

The Venezuelan opposition and a large part of the international community (about 49 countries) denounced the election of May 2018, during which Maduro was reelected, It was a farce, so they do not know the dictator as the legitimate president of the country.

For this reason, on January 23, Guaidó, president of the National Assembly (AN), invoked a constitutional provision allowing him to proclaim himself president. promising free and fair elections.

With Reuters information