Posted on 05/01/2019 6:12:49 AM PDT by Red Badger
enezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was prepared to leave the country Tuesday and seek asylum in Cuba but was stopped by Russia, U.S. officials said.
“We’ve watched throughout the day, it’s been a long time since anyone’s seen Maduro,” Pompeo told CNN. “He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning as we understand it and the Russians indicated he should stay.”
Pompeo said Maduro had been planning to travel to Havana.
Asked if Maduro would have been allowed to safely depart for Cuba, Pompeo dodged the question.
“Mr. Maduro understands what will happen if he gets on that airplane. … He knows our expectations,” he said.
Maduro hasn’t made a public appearance since his rival, interim President Juan Guaidó, called on Venezuelans early Tuesday to take to the streets and oust the 57-year-old leader.
Venezuela and Cuba have been staunch allies, and the U.S. has accused the communist island of propping up Maduro.
Mussolini therapy. Maybe Cauecescu therapy.
“Gotta love it when the Secretary of State is a former CIA Director.”
You ain’t kidding.
I never said that we should intervene militarily. No, we don’t need to send in the Marines, even though they’re very good at that kind of thing.
What we need to do, to help rid this hemisphere of Russian and Chinese influence, is to give monetary, logistical, moral and legal support to the opposition. We need to organize and support Brazil, Columbia and others who should be the ones (if anyone) to intervene, since it is literally their backyard. Hell, if we could get rid of Maduro and his regime by giving him a pallet with $1.5 billion of cash and a free flight to the repressive/Communist nation of his choice, then we should do it...but no US troops, that I have believed from the beginning.
But NOT doing nothing, either.
Personally, I prefer Julius Streicher therapy because it leaves a long and well documented record and a less messy grand finale.
I’ve been saying this for months: Send in the Marines!
It is a risk to the US.
Russia, China, and Cuba are deeply involved there.
Gee, ya' think? That is a massive understatement.
Maduro has run off 3.4 million of his own people to nearby countries and others, like the US.
Why? The people are leaving Venezuela due to horrendous living conditions and hardships that are a direct result of failed socialist policies.
They include government corruption, rampant crime in the streets, food and medicine shortages that have left grocery store shelves empty and hospital with no drugs to treat people with. People are literally starving to death.
Hyperinflation, which hit 2.3 million percent in February 2019 has caused their currency to become worthless.
This is the same socialism that politicians in our own country are pushing. Those who support it simply do not understand the realities of socialism. It sounds good on paper but in the real world, things go south quickly.
But the Venezuelans are very familiar with the realities of socialism and its failure to produce a thriving economy as promised by the Marxists.
I know what the current conditions in Venezuela are; my point is it’s on THEM to rectify those issues themselves.
The longer that country agonizes over its decisions to adopt socialism, the better likelihood of success for those who reject it.
Venezuela IS trying to "rectify those issues themselves." We are on the sidelines observing the situation.
National Assembly president Guaidó is calling for Maduro's ouster and a return to fair elections.
The US has interests in the region to protect and doesn't want Russia in there stealing Venezuelan gold, which they may have done already or their oil. One US Republican congressman claims the Russians have installed nukes in Venezuela.
The statement by Bolton that said all options are on the table does not mean we are going to overtly interfere.
But as it is with any volatile regime overthrow, the US already has it's fingers in the pie trying to sway it out of Maduro's hands and into the hands of those who oppose socialism.
Nope.. not sure where I might've implied we did.
the US already has it's fingers in the pie trying to sway it out of Maduro's hands and into the hands of those who oppose socialism.
And until those who oppose socialism (most important, those in the Venezuelan military) turn out in sufficient numbers to make a difference, this will end relatively quickly. I'm not convinced enough anti-socialism forces exist there.
I said it tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek. I wasn't being literal.
I was only making the point, albeit sarcastically, that the US is not down there with troops to kick Maduro out, but that the Venezuelans are trying to do it themselves.
My plan is no plan. Let the South American countries deal with this. The US has too many problems of its own, including a massive looming federal debt problem and an invasion on our southern border.
Have people noticed that in almost every instance where the US attempted to manage the world, that things have not turned out as planned?
from The American Conservative site
from the American Conservative site
from The American Conservative site
from The American Conservative site
My guess is the Russians told him to stay and forced him to stay cause he used the countries oil deposits as collateral for Russian loans. They own his butt.
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