US in Touch With Venezuelan Military, Mulls New Sanctions on Maduro

By Staff, News Agencies

White House National Security Adviser John Bolton tweeted this week that Washington would consider lifting sanctions on senior Venezuelan military officers if they recognize the government of self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido in another attempt to pressure Nicolas Maduro into stepping down.

The United States is engaged in direct contacts with members of Venezuela's military encouraging them to pledge allegiance to opposition leader Juan Guaido and is working on new sanctions to ramp up pressure on the country's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro, Reuters reported, citing a senior White House official.

The insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed that the Trump administration expected more servicemen to abandon Maduro, even though only a few officers have chosen to side with Guaido since he declared himself Venezuela's interim president on 23 January.

"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", the official said, although declined to provide further details on the discussions or the level at which they are being held.

According to the Reuters source, the US government believes that its transatlantic allies are likely to put more effort to stop Maduro from transferring or hiding Venezuelan government assets held outside the country.

Some European nations have joined Washington in recognizing Guaido, although they didn't go as far as to back the sanctions on Venezuela's state-owned oil giant PDVSA and restrictions on financial transactions that the US imposed.

Currently, the Trump administration is preparing a new round of possible sanctions on Caracas, the official claimed.

Another US official and a person familiar with the deliberations told Reuters that Washington was also considering sanctions on Cuban military and intelligence officials who are allegedly helping Maduro to remain in power.

Earlier this week, US National Security Adviser John Bolton took to Twitter to announce that Washington would consider lifting sanctions on senior Venezuelan military officers if they recognize Guaido.

All eyes have been on Venezuela since Guaido, the head of the opposition-led National Assembly, proclaimed himself the South American country's interim presideggnt in late January in a move swiftly recognized by the United States and a handful of its allies, blasting the May presidential elections in Venezuela as sham.

The legitimately elected Maduro harshly criticized Washington for interfering in Caracas's domestic affairs and accused the US of staging a coup d’état, subsequently cutting diplomatic ties with DC. Maduro also said that a group of Venezuelan military defectors were conspiring in Colombia to "divide the national armed forces at my command".

Besides the introduction of sweeping oil sanctions and financial restrictions on the Maduro government and state-run oil and gas company PDVSA, Trump stated that a military intervention in Venezuela was "an option".