Observers invited by Venezuela condemn election

[Judi Lynn]

28. It's surprising that 19th century-influenced posters never bothered to check around much for information:

Why bother to read or look for information when you can simply buy what the totally anal, aggressive right-wing has used to drive US foreign policy all these looooooong years.

Easy grab from Wikipedia, for anyone who doesn't mind reading, for a change:

United States involvement in regime change in Latin America


In what The New York Times described as "Washington’s most overt attempts in decades to carry out regime change in Latin America", the administration of President Donald Trump made an attempt of regime change in an effort to remove President Nicolás Maduro from office during the Venezuelan presidential crisis.[62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73] The Congressional Research Service of the United States Congress wrote: "Although the Trump Administration initially discussed the possibility of using military force in Venezuela, it ultimately sought to compel Maduro to leave office through diplomatic, economic, and legal pressure."[74] According to Marc Becker, a Latin American history professor of Truman State University, the claim of the presidency by Juan Guaidó "was part of a U.S.-backed maximum-pressure campaign for regime change that empowered an extremist faction of the country's opposition while simultaneously destroying the economy with sanctions."[64] Economist Agathe Demarais made similar statements in her book Backfire: How Sanctions Reshape the World Against U.S. Interests, saying that the United States held the belief that regime change was attainable and that sanctions were implemented against Venezuela to hasten the establishment of Guaidó.[65] Jacobin wrote that the corporate-friendly Guaidó movement was meant to take power after a coup supported by the United States removed President Maduro from office.[75] Ahumada Beltrán said that the Trump administration participated in an "open campaign" to overthrow Maduro with a goal to establish American control over oil and to re-establish Venezuela's traditional elite class.[68]

US officials met with members of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela from 2017 to 2018 to discuss coup plans, though discussions ceased after information leaked and some of the plotters were arrested prior to their anticipated actions during the 2018 Venezuelan presidential election.[76] May 2018 presidential elections in Venezuela were boycotted by the opposition and Maduro won amid low turnout; the United States and other nations refused to recognize the elections, saying they were fraudulent.[77] National Security Advisor John Bolton said in a 1 November 2018 speech prior to the 2018 United States elections that the Trump administration would confront a "Troika of tyranny" and remove leftist governments in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela;[78][66] Trump officials spoke to the media about an existing plan to overthrow Maduro, limiting oil exports to Cuba to create economic distress which would prompt its government's removal and then to finally target Nicaragua.[66][79]

In January 2019, Leopoldo López's Popular Will party attained the leadership of the National Assembly of Venezuela according to a rotation agreement made by opposition parties, naming Juan Guaidó as president of the legislative body.[80] Days after Guaidó was sworn in, he and López reached out to the United States Department of State and presented the idea that Guaidó would be named interim president and that the United States could lead other nations to support Guaidó in an effort to remove Maduro; former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approved of the idea.[81] Though the National Assembly sought to assume executive power from Maduro itself, López and Guaidó continued to work with the State Department without the knowledge of other opposition groups since they believed their objectives would be blocked.[81] State Department official Keith Mines wrote on 20 January that Guaidó declaring himself president "could have the impact of causing the regime to crumble in the face of widespread and overwhelming public support" and on 22 January, Vice President Mike Pence called Guaidó personally and told him that the United States would support his declaration.[81] Neuman wrote that "it's likely that more people in Washington than in Venezuela knew what was going to happen."[81] Guaidó, declared himself the acting President of the country, disputing Maduro's presidency and sparking a presidential crisis. Minutes after the declaration, the United States announced that it recognized Guaidó as president of Venezuela while presidents Iván Duque of Colombia and Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, beside Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, made an abrupt announcement at the World Economic Forum that they too recognized Guaidó.[81][82]

Becker said that the United States attempted to remove the Maduro government threatening military action and inflicting desperation on ordinary Venezuelans, planning that distraught citizens or members of the military would remove Maduro in a coup.[64] The United States then increase sanctions on Venezuela[68] and economic conditions drastically deteriorated due to the sanctions.[83] NPR, following a February 2019 statement by President Trump suggesting that members of the Venezuelan armed forces join Guaidó, described such comments as "the latest push for regime change in Venezuela."[84] US Vice President Mike Pence stated in April 2019 that the US was set on Maduro's removal, whether through diplomatic or other means, and that "all options" were on the table.[85] Financial Times wrote following the failed 2019 Venezuelan uprising attempt on 30 April 2019 that regime change in Venezuela was one of Trump's main foreign policy goals and that it was not going as planned.[86] The New York Times wrote following April's failed attempt to remove Maduro that President Trump's aides promoted regime change through social media, with Bolton tweeting hundreds of times about the effort to remove Maduro and going on news networks daily to discuss the situation.[87] Secretary of State Pompeo said that the US would take military action "if required" at the time.[88] In August 2019, President Donald Trump's administration imposed additional sanctions on Venezuela as part of their efforts to remove Maduro from office, ordering a freeze on all Venezuelan government assets in the United States and barring transactions with US citizens and companies.[89][90] In March 2020, the Trump administration deployed naval units in the Caribbean to pressure the Maduro government and later offered a $15 million reward for the capture of Maduro.[68]

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