On January 29
th, US President Donald Trump's
public events schedule is completely vacant. More than likely, the POTUS will spend the day if not more discussing the regime change policy and efforts aimed at Venezuela.
On the previous day, Trump signed
an executive order aimed at "Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency with Respect to Venezuela."
"The Executive Order I have issued accounts for the swearing in of a legitimate Interim President of Venezuela, and addresses actions by persons affiliated with the illegitimate Maduro regime, including human rights violations and abuses in response to anti-Maduro protests, arbitrary arrest and detention of anti‑Maduro protestors, curtailment of press freedom, harassment of political opponents, and continued attempts to undermine the Interim President of Venezuela and undermine the Venezuelan National Assembly," the Presidential Message accompanying the order stated.
Shortly thereafter, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), pursuing the abovementioned executive order.
"The United States is holding accountable those responsible for Venezuela's tragic decline, and will continue to use the full suite of its diplomatic and economic tools to support Interim President Juan Guaidó, the National Assembly, and the Venezuelan people's efforts to restore their democracy," said Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin. "Today's designation of PdVSA will help prevent further diverting of Venezuela's assets by Maduro and preserve these assets for the people of Venezuela. The path to sanctions relief for PdVSA is through the expeditious transfer of control to the Interim President or a subsequent, democratically elected government."
The state-owned oil company had "has long been a vehicle for corruption. A variety of schemes have been designed to embezzle billions of dollars from PdVSA for the personal gain of corrupt Venezuelan officials and businessmen. For example, a 2014 currency exchange scheme was designed to embezzle and launder around $600 million from PdVSA, money obtained through bribery and fraud. By May 2015, the conspiracy had allegedly doubled in amount, to $1.2 billion embezzled from PdVSA."
Some misconduct was traced back between 2011 and 2013. However, the US only took action now, because it hadn't needed to pressure Venezuela for a regime change prior to this.
Sanctions on individuals, operating the oil sector in Venezuela may also be sanctioned in the near future.
This followed sanctions on 7 individuals allegedly closely related to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 8
th.
On January 28
th, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton spoke to reporters regarding the situation in Venezuela. Bolton said nothing new in general, repeating the same strong rhetoric aimed at regime change.
However, the contents of one page on his notebook could be seen. The contents show something that strongly resembles "Afghanistan" and "5,000 troops to Colombia."USA Today reported that it had asked a White House spokesman for comment, but no denial or confirmation was given to possible troop deployment in Colombia.
Trump said that "all options are on the table" when asked last week if the U.S. was prepared to intervene militarily.A spokeswoman for the Colombian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier, Colombia claimed that it would not allowed US bases on its soil for a possible intervention in Venezuela.
On the same day, Bolton announced that Brazil received its first batch of humanitarian aid, while being praised for standing in recognition of Venezuelan self-proclaimed Interim President Juan Guaido.
He also praised Israel, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed the country's support for "the new leadership in Venezuela."
In a surprising turn of events, however, on January 29th, New Zealand expressed its opposition to the regime change in Venezuela.New Zealand's foreign minister, Winston Peters, has refused to add New Zealand's name to the list backing Guaidó. "It is not New Zealand's practice to make statements of recognition of governments," Peters said.
"Venezuela needs to decide its future through free and fair elections. This government expressed concerns about Venezuela's elections in 2018, and these concerns remain."
Prime minister Jacinda Ardern later justified her stance, saying that on her recent trip to Europe "absolutely no one expressed concern" that New Zealand's decision differed from that of its allies.
"What we do as a country, and rightly so, is call out human rights abuses ... it is absolutely clear that people are suffering under the current regime and that they deserve access to their democratic rights and freedoms."
Comment: Military intervention was never 'off the table' to begin with. Back in
June 2018:
The US president also continued to push this idea on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September 2017. According to AP, he discussed the issue during a private dinner with the leaders of four Latin American countries, including Colombia. Trump allegedly went as far as to ask each of the leaders personally if they are "sure" they did not want a "military solution" to the Venezuelan political crisis that the Latin American country was facing through 2017.
However, the US president eventually failed to garner support for his plans both from the regional leaders and his own administration officials. The Latin American Mercosur trade bloc, which includes Brazil and Argentina among others, particularly issued a statement, which said that "the only acceptable means of promoting democracy are dialogue and diplomacy." The Ecuadorian President also ruled out any intervention by saying that Venezuela is free to pursue its own path while the former Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff warned that Trump's actions might lead to a full-scale war in Latin America.
Though it was not widely supported, now that many Latin American countries (including Brazil and Argentina) are siding with the US in supporting Guiado's illegitimate claim, perhaps they will garner the support they need to make such a move, however ill-advised that may be.
UPDATE: 30th January 2018 at 13:00RT reports that Colombian officials
claim they were unaware of Bolton's apparent memo regarding 5,000 US troops and Colombia:
Colombia has dismissed speculation regarding a puzzling memo from John Bolton, which mentioned 5,000 US troops being sent to the Latin American nation, affirming that it will rely on politics and diplomacy in the Venezuela crisis.
Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes said he is unaware of the "importance and reason" behind John Bolton's memo, noting that his country will only act "politically and diplomatically" in dealing with Venezuela.
The South American nation shares a 2,200km land border with Venezuela and has sided with the US in piling pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government. Recently, Bogota backed Juan Guaido, the opposition leader who proclaimed himself to be the interim president of Venezuela.
The tight-lipped remark came in response to news from the White House on Monday, when US National Security Advisor John Bolton was spotted holding up a yellow legal notebook during a press briefing on Venezuela.
The first line written on the pad appeared to say: "Afghanistan - welcome the talks," while the second one read: "5,000 troops to Colombia." The White House was conspicuously reluctant to clarify the meaning of the note, and distributed the same brief comment to multiple news agencies: "As the president has said, all options are on the table."
Fort Russ
reports on Venezuela's response to deploy military to their border with Colombia - and this is amidst Venezuela's
most important military drills "in our history", according to Maduro:
MAJOR: Venezuela Deploys Military to Columbian Border
Venezuela is strengthening its positions on the border with Colombia. Army artillery units and tanks have been moved to the area to defend the country from any American intervention or similar.
Images were posted by residents of eastern Venezuela on social networks, images that show the movement of armored vehicles from the Venezuelan army to the border with Colombia.
Residents of eastern Venezuela posted videos showing the movement of armored vehicles from the Venezuelan army to the Colombian border.
A video was posted on a political activist's Twitter account showing a military convoy that included Russian recently ordered 2S19 MSTA-S heavy artillery systems on the road to the Colombian border.
Venezuela is strengthening its positions along the border with Colombia after the military threats made by the United States.
Since the failed coup of Juan Guaido, sponsored by the United States and the crisis it provoked in Venezuela, analysts put forward an assumption that the United States was considering withdrawing its military troops from Afghanistan and Syria to deploy them on the border between Colombia and Venezuela.
However, according to the Colombian Ministry of Defense, Colombia would not provide the United States with military bases so that they could launch a possible military invasion of Venezuela.
The US administration threatened the Venezuelan state directly. A warning was issued Sunday, Jan. 27, by Donald Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, suggesting that the United States would provide a "meaningful response" to threats against "the opposition."
"Any violence and intimidation against the American diplomatic staff, the Democratic leader of Venezuela, Juan Guaido or the National Assembly itself, would represent a serious aggression against the rule of law and will result in a significant response," tweeted John Bolton, Donald Trump's National Security Advisor.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is working to end the crisis in the country through preventive measures to block the path of intervention by the United States and their partners.
He enjoys the support of the people, having been elected in the 2018 elections, the army and the Supreme Court.
The Venezuelan Supreme Court immediately denounced the unilateral decision of the opponents while the army announced its support for Maduro: the Venezuelan army will defend the Constitution and the sovereignty of the country and will not recognize the president of the Parliament Juan Guaido in as president of the country, said Wednesday evening, at the very moment of the coup, the Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino Lopez.
The events that occur in this Latin American country are not the result of chance. Some US administration officials say the wick was lit in December or more precisely when Russia said it wanted to buy a permanent military base in Latin America.
US President Donald Trump and his advisers believe that there is a triangle in Latin America (Brazil's border with Argentina and Paraguay) that the Lebanese Hezbollah would benefit politically. and economically. The White House believes that if Hezbollah moved to the center of this triangle, it could become a "source of danger for the United States."
translated by and for FRN from Reseauinternational
Also check out SOTT radio's:
NewsReal: US Regime Change Operation in Venezuela - This Time It's Legit?
Comment: Military intervention was never 'off the table' to begin with. Back in June 2018: Though it was not widely supported, now that many Latin American countries (including Brazil and Argentina) are siding with the US in supporting Guiado's illegitimate claim, perhaps they will garner the support they need to make such a move, however ill-advised that may be.
UPDATE: 30th January 2018 at 13:00
RT reports that Colombian officials claim they were unaware of Bolton's apparent memo regarding 5,000 US troops and Colombia: Fort Russ reports on Venezuela's response to deploy military to their border with Colombia - and this is amidst Venezuela's most important military drills "in our history", according to Maduro: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: US Regime Change Operation in Venezuela - This Time It's Legit?