IG Report Finds Trump Aid to Venezuela Was Aimed at Toppling Maduro
Published on
Friday, April 30, 2021
by Common Dreams
"This was incredibly obvious at the time, but it's shocking to see the details," said one U.S. journalist and author.
by Brett Wilkins, staff writer
Protesters throw stones after a truck carrying what critics called politically motivated U.S.-donated humanitarian aid was set on fire at the Francisco de Paula Santander Bridge linking Colombia and Venezuela on February 23, 2019. (Photo: Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images)
Progressive observers of United States foreign policy in Latin America were unsurprised yet still expressed alarm Thursday over details in a new report from the U.S. Agency for International Development that shows the Trump administration's humanitarian aid to Venezuela was at least partially motivated by a desire for regime change in Caracas.
. . .
The IG investigation found that out of 368 metric tons of humanitarian aid designated for delivery to Venezuela by the agency, only eight metric tons arrived in the country, with the rest going to Colombia and Somalia. Aid that was sent to Venezuela arrived in military transport planes, a move the report says "was not justified by operational needs as commercial transportation was available and less expensive."
The report also acknowledges that the failed February 2019 aid convoy organized by U.S. special representative Elliott Abrams—whose history in the region includes using humanitarian aid flights to arm Contra terrorists in Nicaragua and covering up massacres committed by U.S.-backed death squads in Guatemala and El Salvador—"contributed to a tense environment for humanitarian assistance funded by or associated with the U.S. government, as the Maduro regime publicly rejected pre-positioned commodities and initiated security crackdowns in Venezuela."
Additionally, it states that USAID's own officials determined that food aid purportedly sent to alleviate child hunger "was unnecessary because the nutritional status of Venezuelan children did not warrant its use at the time."
More:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/30/ig-report-finds-trump-aid-venezuela-was-aimed-toppling-maduro
