(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) President Trump has called off diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, The New York Times reported on Monday, a step that paves the way for more US military escalations and makes a US attempt at regime change in Venezuela more likely.
US officials told The Times that during a meeting with US military officials on Thursday, the president called his special envoy, Ric Grenell, who had been leading the efforts to negotiate with Maduro, and instructed him to halt all diplomatic outreach with the Venezuelan government.
About two weeks ago, Grenell said he was still in contact with the Venezuelan government, comments that angered other officials within the Trump administration. Grenell has reportedly clashed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a long-time proponent of regime change in Venezuela who has been driving the current policy.
The Times report said that Trump has been frustrated with Maduro for not voluntarily stepping down from power and his government’s insistence that it’s not involved in drug trafficking. The US has drawn up plans for military escalation, including potential direct strikes on Venezuela aimed at ousting Maduro.
So far, US military action in the region has involved the bombing of at least four boats that the Trump administration has claimed, without evidence, were carrying drugs, military action that lacks legal authorization. Based on numbers released by the administration, at least 21 people have been extrajudicially executed at sea by the US military since the strikes started on September 2.
The US has also significantly built up its military assets in the region, and according to the Washington Examiner, US military planners believe the forces are now sufficient to seize and hold key strategic facilities such as ports and airfields on Venezuelan territory. Any attempts to seize strategic sites inside Venezuela would likely provoke a full-blown war with the government, which says it has a militia of over 4 million people that it’s ready to mobilize.
President Trump appeared to threaten strikes on “land” inside Venezuela in a speech on Sunday. “In recent weeks, the Navy has supported our mission to blow the cartel terrorists the hell out of the water … we did another one last night. Now we just can’t find any,” he told a crowd of US Navy sailors at Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia.
“They’re not coming in by sea anymore, so now we’ll have to start looking about the land because they’ll be forced to go by land,” the president added.
The Times report said that advocates of diplomacy with Maduro have warned that any attempts to carry out regime change in Venezuela risk putting the US into an extended war. The first Trump administration attempted to oust Maduro by backing opposition figure Juan Guaido and imposing crippling economic sanctions on Venezuela, an effort that failed but fueled an exodus of millions of migrants from the country.
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
