US military attack on Venezuela mulled by top Trump advisors and Latin American officials at private DC meeting
Away
from the public eye, the Center for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS) think tank hosted a top-level, off-the-record meeting
to explore US military options against Venezuela.
by
Max Blumenthal
Part
1
The
Washington, DC-based think tank the Center for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS) hosted a private roundtable on April 10
called “Assessing the Use of Military Force in Venezuela.” A list
of attendees was provided to The
Grayzone
and two participants confirmed the meeting took place. They refused
to offer any further detail, however.
Among
the roughly 40 figures invited to the off-the-record event to discuss
potential US military action against Caracas were some of the most
influential advisors on President Donald Trump’s Venezuela policy.
They included current and former State Department, National
Intelligence Council, and National Security Council officials, along
with Admiral Kurt Tidd, who was until recently the commander of US
SOUTHCOM.
Senior
officials from the Colombian and Brazilian embassies like Colombian
General Juan Pablo Amaya, as well as top DC representatives from
Venezuelan coup leader Juan Guaido’s shadow government, also
participated in the meeting.
On
January 23, following backroom maneuvers, the United States openly
initiated a coup attempt against Venezuela’s elected government by
recognizing National Assembly president Juan Guaido as the country’s
“interim president.”
Since
then, Venezuela has endured a series of provocations and the steady
escalation of punishing economic sanctions. President Nicolas Maduro
has accused the US of attacks on the Simon Bolivar hydroelectric
plant at the Guri dam, which have led to country-wide blackouts
openly celebrated by top Trump officials.
In
a March 5 call with Russian pranksters posing as the president of the
Swiss Federation, US special envoy for Venezuela Elliot Abrams ruled
out military action against Venezuela, revealing that he had only
held out the threat to “make
the Venezuelan military nervous.”
Since
then, however, Guaido has failed to mobilize the national protest
wave the Trump administration had anticipated, and the Venezuelan
military has demonstrated unwavering loyalty to Maduro. In
Washington, the sense of urgency has risen with each passing day.
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