President Trump Says He Won’t ‘Rule Out’ Military Option In Venezuela

“If we broke off relations we would have to look to another government to look after the Peruvians” living in Venezuela, he said.

The U.S. has successfully used debt sanctions in the past. Critics say the government feared a thumping at the polls amid a crushing economic crisis that has collapsed support for its socialist revolution. The Pentagon, meanwhile, said that the Department of Defense has not been given any orders to prepare military action against Venezuela. But if any USA military contingency planning is under way, it must be in its early stages.

In Colombia, Pence was expected to highlight trade, business investment and other ties between the nations, including US support for Bogota’s efforts to implement its peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

It’s that second half of the statement that is worth looking at, specifically the last, superfluously added sentence. But Trump’s latest comments were the first sign that he is mulling military intervention. Venezuela has also borrowed heavily from China and Russian Federation in recent years.

“This capture has dealt a hard blow against terrorism”, Padrino tweeted. It shows a country whose military is falling apart and its disintegration is running to the benefit of the region’s worst non-state actors. A reporter then asked if Trump was proposing a US military-led operation.

But the swift reaction to Trump’s “military” remarks shows there is no appetite in the region for US troops to get involved.

Venezuela is a major power in the region, and instability there could undermine regional stability, returning the continent to the days of coups, dictatorships, and revolutions.

According to the minister, Trump’s real aim is not Venezuela, but the whole Latin American continent, which he wants to see in turmoil. In addition to regional issues, Pence is likely to be asked about his own political ambitions and the rising tensions between the US and North Korea. For the rest of the hemisphere this all sounds like a replay of American gun-boat diplomacy, and far from augmenting Washington’s power on the continent, it will diminish it.

“Since the start of this Administration, President Trump has asked that Maduro respect Venezuela’s constitution, hold free and fair elections, release political prisoners, cease all human rights violations, and stop oppressing Venezuela’s great people”. He is set to visit Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Panama.

For now, other than that, all any of us can do is hope that there’s a peaceful resolution. Pence’s mission may be to just get Chile to stay quiet, and perhaps to get Argentina onboard. Times have changed and the status quo has since shifted. In 2014, USA sanctions prohibiting lending to big Russian state owned banks and energy companies helped put pressure on Russia in response to its annexation of Crimea and invasion of Eastern Ukraine. That would tilt the balance a bit toward wait-and-see.

Leon Panetta, who served as Central Intelligence Agency chief and secretary of defense under Obama, said it was ridiculous to think there was any substance to Trump’s threats.