Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent Latin American tour, which specifically saw him demand Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s ouster and threaten a spate of new sanctions against Caracas, indicates that Pompeo’s trip “lacked a coherent plan” on Venezuela, The Washington Examiner’s Erin Dunne wrote in an opinion piece.
She claimed that the United States “put all of its diplomacy cards on the table” supporting Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido and then recognising him as the interim president of the South American country, a move that Dunne added might have worked “had Guaido been able to rally the support of the military”.
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The Venezuelan Army was “not quite ready to jump ship when Washington declared support for Guaido, nor when the US attempted to force aid into the country to foment popular opposition to Maduro.
"Instead, a US-backed attempt to overcome borders with aid fizzled, leaving not a triumphant march on Caracas as envisioned but a stalemate”, the author noted.
She believes that the US is now in “a bit of a pinch” because Washington wants to put an end to the crisis but is unable to sit down with Maduro after it declared his leadership illegitimate. Additionally, the US is seriously concerned over reports about Moscow’s military aid to Caracas.
The author stressed that the United States has already been cornered and that apart from a direct military intervention, they have very few solutions to resolve the gridlock.
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Washington’s “slow squeeze of sanctions” will unlikely prove “the magic bullet” that Pompeo and US President Donald Trump believe will help push Maduro from power, the author concludes, referring to the fact that the Venezuelan president is still calling the shots in his country.
Maduro, who continues to be in charge in Venezuela despite the sanctions, earlier pointed the finger at the US over a massive power outage that swept through the majority of Venezuelan states last month.
He also accused US authorities of being eager to start a war for natural resources and unleash an “oil war to invade our homeland and rule here”.
