Deposed leader Nicolas Maduro arrives in New York; US to run Venezuela

Trump’s comment outraged some supporters of Machado, who has voiced support for US actions to fight alleged drug trafficking and who dedicated her Nobel Prize win to Trump and the Venezuelan people.

Machado “is the most respected politician in the country,” said Pedro Burelli, a former board member at state oil company PDVSA, on X. “Venezuela is broke and needy, but it is not about to surrender to absurd whims.”

Reuters has previously reported that members of Machado’s team helped the Trump administration build the case for an aggressive stance against the Venezuelan government, despite worries about blowback from Trump’s policies on Venezuelan immigrants living in the United States.

Recalling past regime changes

Trump’s comments about an open-ended military presence in Venezuela echoed the rhetoric around past invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which ended in American withdrawals after years of costly occupation and thousands of US casualties.

He said on Saturday that as president, including his first term, he has overseen military actions that were “only victories.” But none of those involved removing another country’s leader.

Trump in the past criticized such interventions, calling the Iraq invasion “a big fat mistake” during a 2016 presidential debate, and saying in 2021 that he was “especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars.”

The United Nations Security Council is due to meet on Monday over the US action. Continue reading…