Venezuela to answer Trump ‘madness’
U.S. president says a military option being considered.
Venezuela will defend itself from the “madness” of Donald Trump, its defense minister said Saturday, a day after the president said he was considering a military option in response to the escalating political and economic crisis in the oil-producing nation.
“It is an act of madness, it is a supreme act of extremism,” Vladimir Padrino said in statements to Venezuela state broadcaster VTV.
Venezuela has been subject to increasing sanctions since President Nicolas Maduro convened a national assembly designed to rewrite the country’s constitution and consolidate his power. Trump’s statement on Friday suggested the U.S. may get more deeply involved, raising the specter of U.S. intervention in Latin America that could spread turmoil in the region.
The foreign ministry, in an email, called Trump’s statements “warmongering” and said they represent a “direct threat to Venezuela’s peace, stability, independence, territorial unity, sovereignty and right to self-determination.”
The top U.S. diplomat in Caracas, charge d’affaires Lee McClenny, was summoned to the federal building known as the Yellow House on Saturday.
Trump weighed in on Venezuela’s turmoil during a brief news conference Friday at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.
“Venezuela is not very far away, and the people are suffering, and they’re dying,” he said. “We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option, if necessary.”
The president declined to say whether the U.S. would seek to overthrow Maduro. He gave no specifics on what the U.S. would do militarily or whether it would act unilaterally.
Vice President Mike Pence flies to South America today, with stops planned in Colombia, Argentina and Chile over several days. On the eve of Pence’s arrival, the government of Colombia rejected Trump’s hint at intervention in a statement condemning “military measures and the use of force.”
Trump’s comment also triggered a negative response from a fellow Republican, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a member of the Armed Services Committee.
“No, Congress obviously isn’t authorizing war in Venezuela,” Sasse, a regular critic of the president, said in a statement. “Nicolas Maduro is a horrible human being, but Congress doesn’t vote to spill Nebraskans’ blood based on who the Executive lashes out at today.”
Ben Rhodes, former President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, also weighed in, saying in a tweet that Trump’s comment may have the unintended effect of giving Maduro a rallying point for his supporters.
“Hard to overstate how much this is a gift for Maduro who will play up threat from the US to seek support from VZ and rest of Latin America,” Rhodes tweeted.
U.S. military action in Venezuela also risks rekindling regional resentments stemming from past interventions.
“If the U.S. were to act militarily it would undoubtedly be unilateral and thus widely condemned by even our regional allies,” said Eric Olson, deputy director of the Latin American Program at the Wilson Center, a Washington public policy group.