| | | Don Surber
Winning a Venezuelan war without a fight
Paying off Maduro could save lives, save money and solve the Ukraine problem.
President Trump has the opportunity to do in Venezuela what Dubya could not do in Iraq—depose a dictator without a war.
The Telegraph reported:
Venezuela’s president asked to keep $200 million of his private wealth, amnesty for his officials and safe harbor in a friendly country as part of a deal with Donald Trump to step down and flee, sources said.
Those familiar with a phone call between the two leaders told The Telegraph that the plan fell apart owing to Nicolás Maduro’s demands for a blanket amnesty for as many as 100 top officials.
During the 15-minute call, the two leaders also disagreed on how to set up a transitional government and on the location Mr. Maduro would flee to from Venezuela.
Mr. Trump suggested China or Russia, according to one source, while the Venezuelan president was intent on staying in the Western hemisphere, in a friendly country such as Cuba.
In the interim, Qatar has emerged as a possible compromise.
Mr. Maduro confirmed on Wednesday that he had spoken with the US president “about 10 days ago.”
Since the call on November 21, Mr. Trump has stepped up pressure on the hardline Venezuelan government.
The USA has put a $50 million price on Maduro’s head.
President Bush 43 could not simply pay off Saddam Hussein because there was no viable alternative to him in Iraq.
But the Trump’s trump card is María Corina Machado. She is a very popular leader who is capable, with Trump’s support, of toppling the drug cartels who run Venezuela.
AP reported on Saturday night:
Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado demonstrated Saturday in several cities worldwide to commemorate her Nobel Peace Prize win ahead of the prestigious award ceremony next week.
Dozens of people marched through Madrid, Utrecht, Buenos Aires, Lima and other cities in support of Machado, whose organization wants to use the attention gained by the award to highlight Venezuela ’s democratic aspirations. The organization expected demonstrations in more than 80 cities around the world on Saturday.
The crowd in Lima carried portraits of Machado and demanded a “Free Venezuela.” With the country’s yellow, blue and red flag draped over their backs or emblazoned on their caps, demonstrators clutched posters that read, “The Nobel Prize is from Venezuela.”
Venezuelan Verónica Durán, who has lived in Lima for eight years, said Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize is celebrated because “it represents all Venezuelans, the fallen and the political prisoners in their fight to recover democracy.”
This is an actual resistance—not a Barack Hussein Obama insurrection conducted by the deep state. She doesn’t own the judges but she can do for her homeland what Bukele did for El Salvador.
David Marcus of Fox News posted on Saturday, “Trump’s aggression toward Venezuela a warning to Putin.
“Russia’s client states falling one by one as Trump tightens pressure on Moscow over Ukraine war.”
His argument is:
President Donald Trump has seen recent setbacks in his polling numbers on many issues, but one bright spot in surveys has been his aggressive approach to Venezuela, including taking out drug cartel boats. But there is another purpose at work here, one that may help to end the war in Ukraine.
What is important to understand is that Venezuela is a client state of Russia, as is Iran, and as was Syria until the recent overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. One by one, Trump has been proving that against American might, Putin cannot keep his sketchy global friends safe.
Now you see why this is a problem for Democrats. The whole Russiagate cover up of Obama using his secret police within the FBI to spy on Trump was a cynical tale that accused Trump of doing what Obama and Hillary were doing.
Thus, as a client state of Putin—they gave him Crimea and Donbas—they are very concerned about his well-being and bottom line. Blowing up drug runners in the Caribbean cuts into profits, hinders recruitment and requires the acquisition of replacement boats.
Blowing up speedboats is working. Rod Blagojevich (remember him?) tweeted:
What Trump is doing in Venezuela is more than just the usual rhetoric of declaring a War on Drugs. Using the military to attack the source of the poison that is intentionally being exported to our country is why Trump is such a great president. I spent time in prison with some narco traffickers. They scoffed at the notion that the US could keep drugs out of our country. We finally have a president who really does mean business & is determined to put drug traffickers out of business!
It also is putting politicians out of work. And so Democrats are threatening Nuremberg trials for our admirals for killing drug runners.
Just a reminder that any trials for drug runners would be sabotaged by Judge Boasberg and the rest of the judicial coup conspiracy. Drug runners cannot appeal missiles to a higher court.
Marcus wrote:
One can almost see Trump’s main Ukraine negotiator, Steve Witkoff, saying to a Russian counterpart, “How’s your boy Maduro, doing? Seems to be having a tough time. I wish we could help.”
While Putin has been murdering Ukrainians and maintaining the largest European land war in generations, Trump has been weakening Russian global power. Syria is making nice with America, Iran has been de-nuclearized and now that leaves Venezuela.
In recent weeks, Russian cargo planes have been seen flying into Venezuela. Nobody is ever quite sure if they are there to bring supplies, or perhaps at some point, to airlift Maduro to an early retirement in Moscow, where al-Assad now resides.
And that scenario suits me perfectly well because María Corina Machado is waiting in the wings. She could be Venezuela’s next president for life.
Just how long her life expectancy is up to the cartels—as it is with Maduro’s life expectancy. This is why he also is negotiating some sort of amnesty for the men who run the cartels. It is a twist on the mafioso’s advice to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Maduro needs to keep his friends alive and his enemies aliver.
America needs Maduro out and Machado in. She might not be much better but she can’t be any worse. |
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