After his latest coup attempt against the elected government of President Nicolás Maduro quickly fell flat, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Saturday said he has moved to open “direct communications” with Pentagon officials with the goal of establishing greater military “coordination” with the United States.
According to the Associated Press, Guaidó announced during a rally Saturday that he has “instructed his political envoy in Washington to immediately open relations with the U.S. military in a bid to bring more pressure on President Nicolás Maduro to resign.”
“The leader said he’s asked Carlos Vecchio, who the U.S. recognizes as Venezuela’s ambassador, to open ‘direct communications’ toward possible military ‘coordination,'” AP reported. “The remarks … mark one of his strongest public pleas yet for greater U.S. involvement in the country’s fast-escalating crisis.”
Guaidó’s open call for direct U.S. military involvement in his coup effort comes after the opposition leader’s so-called “military uprising” against the Maduro government sparked chaos in the streets of Venezuela, but ultimately fizzled out after several days.
Trump administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence and national security adviser John Bolton, enthusiastically backed the coup plotters while rejecting the characterization of Guaidó’s push to topple Venezuela’s elected government as a coup attempt.
As it became clear that Guaidó’s uprising would not succeed in ousting Maduro, White House officials intensified threats of U.S. military intervention, which progressive critics argue would have disastrous consequences for Venezuela and the region.
“The president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent—military action is possible,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a Fox Business interview earlier this month. “In the event that there comes a moment—and we’ll all have to make decisions about when that moment is and the president will ultimately have to make that decision—he’s prepared to do that if that’s what’s required.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.