Venezuela: US increasingly isolated as allies warn against use of military force

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

Venezuela: US increasingly isolated as allies warn against use of military force
Mike Pence says ‘all options are on the table’ in effort to oust Maduro while key allies warn they would oppose sending troops

Joe Parkin Daniels in Bogotá, Emma Graham-Harrison in Caracas and Sam Jones in Madrid
Mon 25 Feb 2019 14.32 EST

US vice-president Mike Pence has repeated a veiled threat of military intervention in Venezuela, but Washington appeared increasingly isolated in its willingness to contemplate using force to oust President Nicolás Maduro.

. . .

But beyond the US, few appear willing embrace the prospect of violence. In Latin America, there is a painful and bloody history of US interventions, and the terrible fallout from the 2003 invasion of Iraq is another deterrent to the use of military force.

An invasion would be complicated and bloody, with a strong chance of sliding into protracted civil war. Venezuela has armed forces that are more than 300,000 strong, thousands more members of pro-government gangs or guerrilla groups, complex terrain – and a government that still has some support from international partners including China and Russia.

Brazil’s vice-president, retired general Hamilton Mourão, said on Monday that under no circumstances would his country allow the United States to intervene militarily from Brazilian territory, even though the country’s rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro has previously vowed to do “everything for democracy to be re-established” in Venezuela.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/25/venezuela-mike-pence-maduro-guaido

[rpannier]

1. When the only tool on the box is a hammer

Everything is a nail

And I think that's what all these countries are thinking.
In addition, Bush supported a coup attempt that failed badly.
Also, I'm certain the countries bordering Venezuela have to have some concern that the whole thing could spill over into their country as well

[MRubio]

2. At least 3 million people have fled Venezuela and......

......many more are leaving, with or without military conflict.

Everyone here knows someone, or even has family members who have fled the country's terrible conditions.

My wife's oldest daughter is now living in Spain where she's getting life-saving treatment for her daughter's congential birth defects, treatment impossible to obtain in today's Venezuela. Her other daughter is also leaving for Spain because it's impossible for her to make ends meet here with hyper-inflation.

She wonders if she'll ever see her kids again face-to-face. Think about that as a mother or father.

For this regime, seeing millions of citizens flee is not a bad thing at all, it's actually a good thing. Fewer mouths to have to feed, fewer people in-country with anti-government sentiments, hard currency being sent back into the country to help family members, a poorer and less-educated population overall left behind that is easier to control via hunger and food handouts and more to steal for those in charge.

Bordering countries have their own problems. They certainly don't need Venezuela's.

[Calista241]

3. I'll get worried about this when the military starts prepositioning equipment and moving troops.

It would take several hundred thousand troops to occupy Venezuela, and 6+ months to make it happen.

[Mr. Smith]

4. Latin America knows better.

Americans may not know much about our history of military interventions in the hemisphere, but Latin Americans do.

[Judi Lynn]

5. The victims most surely have a memory.

They will never forget, whereas so many U.S. Americans never knew, and couldn't care less.

Welcome to D.U., Mr. Smith.