Donald Trump Open
to Military Solution in Venezuela
by Charlie Spiering 11 Aug 2017
President Donald
Trump did not discard the possibility of military intervention against the
socialist dictatorship in Venezuela
Friday evening in a conversation with reporters.
Trump remark comes less than 24 hours after dictator
Nicolás Maduro announced
he had ordered his foreign ministry to reach out to Washington for “in person”
talks with the president, hoping to schedule them for September, when Maduro
seeks to visit New York for the United Nations General Assembly meeting. U.S. Treasury sanctions currently ban Maduro from entering the
United States.
“Venezuela is a mess, it is very dangerous mess, and a
very sad situation,” Trump said during remarks to reporters at his golf club in
Bedminster, New Jersey on Friday.
“We have many options for Venezuela, I’m not ruling out
military options,” he said.
Trump made his remarks after meeting with Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, and National
Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.
“This is our neighbor … Venezuela is not far away,” Trump
said, referring to the close proximity of the country in Latin America. “The
people are suffering and they are dying, we have many options for Venezuela
including a possible military option if necessary.”
Pressed for details from reporters, Trump declined to
specify who would lead the operation or any potential plans.
“We don’t talk about it,” he said.
Trump also referred
to Venezuela as “a mess, a very dangerous mess, and a very sad situation.”
Venezuela is facing a severe economic and political
crisis after nearly two decades of socialism, recently exacerbated by the
Socialist Party’s (PSUV) attempt to replace the democratically-elected National
Assembly with a legislature comprised of hand-picked Maduro
supporters. The Venezuelan news outlet Runrunes has documented 156
deaths as a result of police brutality against peaceful protesters
throughout the country since late March, when citizens took the streets to
protest the Supreme Court’s attempt to annul the opposition-held National
Assembly and establish itself as the legislative branch of the country.
The U.S. Treasury has repeatedly sanctioned senior
Venezuelan officials since Trump assumed the presidency in January. In
July, the Treasury sanctioned Maduro
personally, banning him from the United States and prohibiting Americans from
conducting business with him. Trump has also met personally with Lilian Tintori,
the wife of Venezuela’s most prominent political prisoner, Leopoldo López, in
the Oval Office and has asserted he “will
not stand by” as Venezuela collapses.
Senator Marco Rubio, who brought Tintori to the White
House, has said the Venezuelan
political crisis is a “personal priority” for the president.
Venezuela
Moises
Naim was a minister of trade and industry for Venezuela, a board member for the International Crisis Group, is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee, a global board member for the Open Society Foundations, a fellow at
the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace (think tank), and a director at the AES Corporation.
Note: George Soros is a
board member for
the International Crisis Group, a member of the Bretton Woods Committee, the founder
& chairman for the Open Society
Foundations, and was the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Philip
Lader is a lifetime director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), and a director at the AES Corporation.
Charles O.
Rossotti is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), the chairman for the AES Corporation, and was a commissioner
for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
John A. Koskinen
was a director at the AES Corporation,
and is the commissioner for the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS).
Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) is a division
of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Richard G. Darman
was a deputy secretary for the U.S.
Department of the Treasury, and a director at the AES Corporation.
Samuel W. Bodman
III was a deputy secretary for the U.S.
Department of the Treasury, and a director at the AES Corporation.
Moises
Naim is a director at the AES
Corporation, a member of the Bretton
Woods Committee, a global board member for the Open Society Foundations, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), was a board
member for the International Crisis Group,
and a minister of trade and industry for Venezuela.
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