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BOGOTA, Colombia – While an August meeting was ending in the Oval Office to discuss sanctions against Venezuela, President Donald Trump turned to his main assistants and asked a troubling question: With a Venezuela threatens regional security, why? The United States is simply invading the country in trouble?
The suggestion stunned those present at the meeting, including US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Advisor HR McMaster, who have since left the administration. This account of the previously undisclosed conversation comes from a senior government official familiar with what has been said.
In an exchange that lasted about five minutes, McMaster and others explained to Trump how military action could turn around and risk losing hard. Support from Latin American governments for the punishment of President Nicolas Maduro for pushing Venezuela on the path of dictatorship, according to the official. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.
But Trump pushed back. Although he gave no indication that he was about to order military plans, he indicated what he considered to be past cases of gunboat diplomacy. successful in the region, according to the official, as the invasions of Panama and Grenada in the 1980s.
The idea, despite the best attempts of his assistants to shoot him down, will nevertheless persist in the head of the president.
The next day, August 11, Trump alarmed friends and foes by talking about a "military option" to remove Maduro from Power. Public remarks were initially rejected in American political circles as the kind of martial bluster that people expect the reality TV star to become commander-in-chief.
But soon after, he raised the issue with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. to the US official. Two senior Colombian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid opposing Trump confirmed the report.
Then in September, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Trump discussed it again, this time more, in a private cabinet. dinner with the leaders of four Latin American allies who included Santos, the same three people said and Politico reported in February.
The US official said Trump was specifically informed not to raise the issue and said that he would not play well. The first thing the president said at dinner was: "My staff told me not to say it." Trump then asked each leader if they were sure they did not want to military solution, added the official. The leader told Trump in clear terms that they were safe.
Eventually, McMaster would remove the president and guide him through the dangers of an invasion, the official said.
Taken together, the talks behind the scenes, the magnitude and details of what has not been previously reported, highlight how the political and economic crisis of Venezuela received special attention under Trump's A way that was unimaginable in the Obama administration. But critics say it also underscores how far his "America First" foreign policy can sometimes seem irresponsible, providing ammunition to America's opponents.
The White House refused to comment on private conversations. But a spokesman for the National Security Council reiterated that the United States will consider all options available to help restore Venezuela's democracy and bring stability. Under Trump's leadership, the United States, Canada, and the European Union have imposed sanctions on dozens of senior Venezuelan officials, including Maduro himself, on allegations of corruption, drug trafficking, and drug trafficking. violation of human rights. The United States has also distributed more than $ 30 million to help Venezuela's neighbors absorb an influx of more than one million migrants who have fled the country.
Trump's bellicose speech gave the unpopular leader an immediate but fleeting boost. to escape the blame for widespread food shortages and hyperinflation. A few days after the president's speech on a military option, Maduro filled the streets of Caracas with loyalists to condemn the belligerence of "Emperor" Trump, order military exercises on a national scale and threaten to Arrested the opponents he plotted with the United States. On Wednesday, Maduro cited the AP's article to reaffirm its longstanding claim that the United States has military sights on Venezuela and its vast oil reserves. At a military promotion ceremony in Caracas, he called on troops to remain vigilant, criticizing what he calls the "supremacist and criminal vision of those who rule the United States"
"A military intervention on the part of the American empire will never be a solution to Venezuelan problems, "he said.
Even some of America's most loyal allies have been forced to side with Maduro to condemn the clash of Trump's sword. Santos, a big supporter of the United States trying to isolate Maduro, said an invasion would have no support in the area. The Mercosur trading block, which includes Brazil and Argentina, said that "the only acceptable way to promote democracy is dialogue and diplomacy" and to repudiate "any option involving the use of force ".
Hostility to the idea of a military intervention is slowly eased
A few weeks after Trump's public comment, Harvard's economics professor, Ricardo Hausmann, former minister of the Venezuelan plan, wrote a syndicated column entitled "D Day Venezuela". called for a "coalition of volunteers" composed of regional powers and the United States to intervene and support militarily a government appointed by the opposition-led National Assembly.
Mark Feierstein, who supervised Latin America at the National Security Council. the Obama administration, said that a vigorous US action against Venezuela, even if it is commendable, will not release Maduro's hold on power if it is not accompanied under the pressure of the streets. However, he thinks that Venezuelans have been largely demoralized after repression of last year 's protests, and the threat of further crackdown has forced dozens of opposition leaders into exile. Feierstein, who is now a senior advisor to the Albright Stonebridge Group, said about Trump's military invasion of Venezuela. "The concern is that this has raised expectations among Venezuelans, many of whom are waiting for an external actor to save them."
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Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in Washington contributed to this report.
___ [19659024] Follow Goodman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APjoshgoodman
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This document may not be published, distributed, rewritten or redistributed.
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