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Venezuela and one of its allies on Saturday accused the United States of plotting against its president, Nicolás Maduro, who presided over a near-collapse of the country.
Jorge Arreaza, Venezuela's foreign minister, responded Saturday to a New York Times article detailing secret meetings between US officials and Venezuelan officers seeking to oust Maduro. "We denounce before the world the plans of intervention of the United States and the assistance brought to the military conspirators against Venezuela", he declared on Twitter, adding that this article "had unearthed new raw proofs".
The Times article, based on interviews with US officials and a former Venezuelan military commander seeking to overthrow Mr. Maduro, reported on several meetings that took place last fall and are continuing. this year.
The main demand of the military conspirators was to use encrypted radios, which they intended to use to communicate with each other in order to capture Maduro and his lieutenants. But the United States has never granted this request and, after several meetings, the Venezuelans have been frustrated. Maduro's government has since jailed dozens of conspirators, although many are still fleeing.
Among those who denounced the secret meetings were Bolivian President Evo Morales, a long-time ally of Maduro, who described them on Saturday as a "coup plot of Trump".
In a tweet, he wrote: "The free countries of Latin America will resist any new attack by the Empire against peace and democracy in the region.
The White House did not comment on the meetings.
On Saturday, Garrett Marquis, spokesman for the National Security Council, said the United States preferred "a peaceful and orderly transition to democracy in Venezuela." He added that the government "hears daily the concerns of Venezuelans from all walks of life". that "they share an objective: the reconstruction of democracy in their country".
However, some former leaders defended the meetings, arguing that something needed to be done to stem humanitarian crises caused by Maduro's authoritarian leadership, shortages of food and medicine to migrate millions of Venezuelans from the country.
"If you do not like the idea that the United States is talking to the military, then what are you proposing?" Said Richard N. Haass, former senior state department chief of the United States. George W. Bush, currently President of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Although it did not support a coup, the region should consider a "Latin American coalition of volunteers," an alliance of Venezuela's neighbors created for possible regional military intervention, similar to the invasion of the country. Iraq by the United States.
While Latin American leaders have strongly condemned the words of the President Last year, Trump, declaring that there was a "military option" to thwart Mr. Maduro, the reaction to the news that US officials had met conspirators of the coup was deafened this time. Mr. Morales was the only president to defend Mr. Maduro.
This reflects the growing exasperation of Maduro's government, according to some experts.
"There is so little sympathy now," said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington political forum. Although Mr. Shifter also does not support a coup d'etat, he stated that the comparisons with the Salvadoran overthrow of Salvador Allende in 1973 by General Augusto Pinochet, who became a military dictator, were unfounded, given that of the humanitarian crisis that Mr. Maduro had caused.
There are signs that the Trump administration could toughen its stance on Maduro, one of the few current presidents currently subject to US sanctions. The White House is expected to appoint Mauricio Claver-Carone to lead Latin America's affairs at the National Security Council.
Claver-Carone is considered a tough conservative of Cuba and has been involved in strengthening US sanctions against Venezuelan officials. It would report to John Bolton, who led the N.S.C. in April and is also considered more hawkish than its predecessor.
Shannon K. O'Neil, vice-president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said she would show a wait-and-see attitude to changes in US policy towards Venezuela, despite growing chaos.
"Why should Latin America be different from other parts of the world where people have intervened?" She asked. "But the realpolitik of this is the will not to do it again."
