Trump Considers Military Option in Venezuela

On Friday, August 11, a day after Maduro has reiterated his invitation to a "mutually respectful" dialogue.  Trump spoke about possible US responses to the situation in Venezuela   at improvised press conference after talks with US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, indicating possible military actions.

Donald Trump speaks to reporters meeting at Trump’s golf estate

Lara, Venezuela, August 11, 2017 (www.venezuelanalysis.com) – International pressure continued escalate around Venezuela this week.  A UN Human Rights team has released a statement this week claiming that it is “unclear” if any of the 126 deaths that have occurred in violent protests that have ensued since the month of April, are due to opposition violence, while representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru met in Lima  to release the “Lima Declaration” which stated that “Venezuela is no longer a democracy”, referred to the recently installed ANC as illegitimate and accused Maduro’s government of human rights abuses.   

On Friday, August 11, a day after Maduro has reiterated his invitation to a “mutually respectful” dialogue, Trump spoke about possible US responses to the situation in Venezuela at improvised press conference after talks with US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, indicating possible military actions.

“We have many options ..this is our neighbor. We are all over the world and we have troops all over the world in places that are very, very far away. Venezuela is not very far away and the people are suffering. They’re dying. We have many options for Venezuela including a possible military option, if necessary.”

When asked by a reporter if Trump’s statement implied a US led military operation, the president responded “We don’t talk about it but a military operation, a military option is certainly something that we could pursue.”

According to Telesur, the Pentagon has stated that it has not received any orders regarding Venezuela and referred reporters to the White House for more information.

President Maduro responded to Trump’s statements in the ANC.  

“Here, the problem is not Maduro, take him out or leave him.  No!  Here there is a Constituent People that has said that we want and we have a homeland and no one nor any empire will take that away from us.  We are a people that is in political power in Venezuela, not one man!”

Maduro also made reference to the long history of the United States stained with violent intervention and violation of International Law and lack of respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of the world’s nations and indicated that Trump’s retrograde approach will no be tolerated.

 “The 21st century is not a century of colonialism.  They think they can dominate us, take away our natural resources, our oil, gold, gas and dominate our country and for us to say “yes, Sir, mister emperor.”No they can’t think they can do that.”

The comments made by the US president also sparked a conflicted response from some of the allied countries who participated in the Lima Delcaration earlier in the week.

Herald Muñoz, Chilean Foreign Minister tweeted a response to Trump’s statement. “Reiterating all the terms of the Lima Declaration on Venezuela, Chile rejects the threat of military intervention in Venezuela.” Indicating possible tensions in this newly formed alliance against Venezuela.