Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

White House has said on February 9, the United States is in direct contacts with the Venezuelan military members urging the military to abandon Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, as also preparing for imposing new sanctions in a bid to pressurize Maduro.

According to Reuters news reports, the White House official told Reuters that the US president’s administration further expected Venezuela military defections from Maduro’s side.

This week, while speaking at a condition of anonymity, the official said, “We believe these to be those first couple pebbles before we start really seeing bigger rocks rolling down the hill. We’re still having conversations with members of the former Maduro regime, with military members, although those conversations are very, very limited.”

Further, the official declined to offer any details over the discussion, and also it was unclear whether such talks could create disturbance in Venezuela’s socialist leaders’ support from its military.

With Venezuelan military still believed to be loyal to socialists, a source cited doubts whether the US President Donald Trump administration has, till far so, laid enough of groundwork to arouse a wider mutiny in ranks where several officers were suspected of benefiting themselves from drug trafficking and corruption.

South American nation’s security forces’ members fear they and their families could be affected and targeted by Maduro if they defect, vice president of the Council of the Americas think tank in Washington, Eric Farnsworth said so the US would need to provide them something that could counterbalance those concerns.

Farnsworth said, “It depends on what they’re offering. Are there incentives built into these contracts that will at least cause people to question their loyalty to the regime?”

Meantime, the official said the Trump administration was preparing further for possible sanctions over Venezuela.

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