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.

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