I will concede that - of late- this dicking around in Venezuela looks like it is headed nowhere and that Maduro is just becoming The Tropical Assad. But then there is this- below- which I also concede raises my eyebrow a bit. The head of the Secret Police knows about dark shiite and where the bodies are because he created a lot of them and is obviously looking for a deal. He is not someone that Maduro wanted to have flip on him. That's an ugly development for Maduro. It's also a signal that the internal assessment of Maduro's situation is that his days are numbered and/or it might be true or so close to being true that Maduro has already come close to fleeing- which the Americans allege. Personally, I dont immediately believe- yet- that bit about Maduro starting to flee and the Russians talked him out of it because it may just be disinformation to demoralize the upper echelons of his regime. However, it may also have worked. I dunno. Looks worse today than last week, and last week it looked quite good for Maduro. He will need to watch his arse though. The Americans and the Opposition are trying to bait him into firing on more civilians, which is incendiary as hell. Head of Venezuela's secret police breaks with Maduro https://www.foxnews.com/world/venezuela-secret-police-head-breaks-with-maduro
We've already expanded NATO up to their borders, giving a bunch of small countries with historic grievances the opportunity to drag us into conflict with another superpower. But them getting involved in Venezuela at the invitation of the government is unacceptable. Which neo-con war monger volunteers their kids to die first in a war there? Bolton? Pompeo? How about little Billy Kristol?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...ba2c56-92b1-11e9-b58a-a6a9afaa0e3e_story.html With Maduro entrenched in Venezuela, Trump loses patience and interest in issue, officials say Last winter, the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro seemed a sure bet to President Trump, a quick foreign policy win at a time when other initiatives in Asia and the Middle East appeared stalled or headed in the wrong direction. Then came spring, when Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader Trump had recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate president, called for the Venezuelan military to rise up and switch sides. But while the White House had received opposition assurances that many in the upper echelons of the security forces and government had pledged to flip, virtually none answered Guaidó’s call. A frustrated Trump believed that national security adviser John Bolton and his director for Latin American policy, Mauricio Claver-Carone, “got played” by both the opposition and key Maduro officials, two senior administration officials said. As the president “chewed out the staff” in a meeting shortly after the April 30 failure, in the words of one former Trump official involved in Venezuela policy, he mused that he might need to get on the phone himself to get something done. Summer arrives this week with Maduro still in place, and little indication that he is imminently on his way out, or that the Trump administration has a coherent strategy to remove him. The president, officials said, is losing both patience and interest in Venezuela. [How a plot filled with intrigue and betrayal failed to oust Venezuela’s president] Other officials disputed the report of a chewing-out. National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis, said, "Not only is this patently false, but once more the Washington Post traffics in fairy tales rather than the truth." “The United States never said that its effort in Venezuela would be limited to one round,” another senior official said. “The administration’s maximum-pressure policy relies upon consistency and discipline to achieve the ultimate goal.” This official and others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss administration policymaking. As Venezuela becomes more ungovernable, with sanctions having cut off much of its income, some argue, the fatigue afflicting many Maduro opponents has also begun affecting the regime. That will theoretically encourage negotiations over elections in which Maduro does not participate, although it may not ensure his immediate departure, as the United States has advocated. But Trump has clearly been frustrated about a foreign policy issue he “always thought of . . . as low-hanging fruit” on which he “could get a win and tout it as a major foreign policy victory,” the former official said. “Five or six months later . . . it’s not coming together.” Since early last month, Trump has rarely spoken publicly about Venezuela or his “all options” promise to use military force if necessary to achieve U.S. goals there. In a closed-door meeting Wednesday to campaign donors at his Doral golf club in key election state Florida — just miles from where he delivered a February speech to Venezuelan and Cuban expatriates warning that those who continued to support Maduro would “lose everything” — Trump did not mention Venezuela, one person in attendance said. Trump’s Twitter account, which once provided regular saber-rattling on Venezuela, has largely gone silent on the subject. In one exception, Trump tweeted early this month that “Russia has informed us that they have removed most of their people from Venezuela.” After Russia denied it, saying there had been no such action or communication with the administration, it was never mentioned again. It was Russian President Vladimir Putin whom Trump had called in early May to tell him — leader to leader — that Moscow’s support for Maduro had to stop. Both Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had already put Russia on notice. But Trump, after the call, had said mildly that Putin assured him that Russia was “not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela, other than he’d like to see something positive happen.” Early last week, responding to shouted questions as he prepared to board Marine One on the White House South Lawn, Trump blamed the ongoing Venezuela crisis on his predecessor and threw in a dig at his 2020 electoral competition. “It’s been brewing for many years,” he said. “It really started, in the worst form, during the Biden-Obama administration.” Asked whether he would consider giving special immigration status to Venezuelans fleeing their country, something others in the administration have carefully avoided committing to, Trump said that “we’re looking at that very strongly.” Later in the week, he met for more than two hours with top officials from Major League Baseball, who asked that he reconsider his cancellation of a deal they made with Cuba to bring its baseball players to the United States. In addition to Russia, the administration blames Cuba for supporting Maduro, and during the meeting Trump tried to enlist baseball executives to deliver two messages to leaders in Havana. He’s be happy to make a deal on Cuban baseball players, Trump said, if they would tell Cuba to get out of Venezuela. Trump also suggested he would be willing to meet directly with Cuban officials under the right conditions. “The president gave MLB the same message he’s given to everyone — the Cubans need to change their behavior, in Venezuela and internally,” said one senior administration official. While Trump appears to have withdrawn from the fray, Bolton tweets about Venezuela more than on any other foreign policy issue. “The United States will continue to stand firmly in support of ending Maduro’s repression,” he wrote Tuesday. In Miami, as Trump was heading toward Florida, it was Vice President Pence who spoke to Venezuelan Americans to salute the embarkation of the U.S. Navy ship Comfort to Latin America, expecting to treat Venezuelan refugees. Pence deflected questions about U.S. military intervention, saying that the administration’s objective was “to see democracy and the rule of law restored in Venezuela so Venezuelans can go home to a free nation.”
Unintended consequences. Colombian armed groups recruiting desperate Venezuelans, army says http://news.trust.org/item/20190620113624-irosq/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/venezuela-plot-overthrow-nicolas-maduro-americans-arrested-juan-guaido/ Venezuela says 2 Americans arrested over plot to topple leader Caracas — Venezuela's government said it had detained two Americans on Monday on suspicion of plotting to topple President Nicolas Maduro's government, which has accused U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido of bankrolling the scheme. The arrests came a day after the government said it foiled an "invasion" from the sea, killing eight assailants and capturing two others. Maduro appeared on state television to show the passports of Luke Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41, and told the Venezuelan military high command that the pair were members of the U.S. security forces. Attorney General Tarek William Saab earlier told reporters that "hired mercenaries" had signed a $212 million dollar contract with Guaido using funds "stolen" from state oil company PDVSA. The United States - one of more than 50 countries backing Guaido as Venezuela's acting president as he challenges Maduro for power - has slapped sanctions on PDVSA and allowed Guaido to use funds from frozen accounts belonging to the firm's Houston-based subsidiary Citgo. Saab said Guaido had signed a contract with former U.S. special forces soldier Jordan Goudreau, linked in several press reports last week to an allegedly bungled attempt to topple Maduro. The Canadian-born Goudreau, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, is accused of training a mercenary force to invade Venezuela that disbanded after Colombian authorities seized a weapons shipment meant for the group. Saab also shared on social media a video of Goudreau, who now runs a private security firm called Silvercorp USA, in which the former soldier claims an operation against Maduro's regime is ongoing. Guaido's press team released a statement on Monday denying the accusations and insisting it had no agreements with private security firms. Venezuela says plot "orchestrated" by U.S. On Sunday, Venezuela claimed a group traveling on speedboats and embarking from Colombia tried to land before dawn in the northern coastal state of La Guaira but were intercepted by the military and special police units. Diosdado Cabello, deputy leader of the ruling Socialist Party, claimed the operation was "orchestrated" by the United States and its Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), with Colombian support. Colombia denied any involvement, while Maduro claimed on Monday that the mission's aim was to assassinate him. Venezuela frequently accuses Colombia of fomenting plots to overthrow the Maduro government and of allowing mercenaries to train in its territory. Saab said authorities had detained 114 people and issued warrants for the arrest of 92 others accused of involvement in plots against Maduro and his regime since an alleged assassination attempt using explosives-laden drones in 2018. He added that Venezuela had seized arms during the apparent invasion that were stolen from parliament during a failed military uprising led by Guaido last year. The public prosecutor has launched a number of investigations against Guaido but has never ordered his arrest.
Maduro - along with the rest of the enemies of humanity- is waiting/hoping for the dems to be elected in the fall.
So which is it? Has Trump lost interest in Venezuela or is he actively involved in sending mercenaries down there? Maduro has a history of claiming many "criminals" the government arrests were trying to assassinate or kidnap him. Usually with very little proof beyond forced confessions played on T.V.