Formal request for a meeting is the closest the Guaidó camp has come to requesting US military intervention to help oust Maduro

The head of Venezuela’s national assembly, Juan Guaidó, has asked for a meeting with the US military for “strategic and operational planning” in the power struggle between the Guaidó camp and the government of Nicolás Maduro.

In a letter to the head of US Southern Command (SouthCom), Guaidó’s representative in Washingon, Carlos Vecchio, pointed to worsening conditions in Venezuela as the standoff continues and “the impact of the presence of uninvited foreign forces that place our country and others at risk”.

Vecchio wrote: “We welcome strategic and operational planning so that we may fulfill our constitutional obligation to the Venezuelan people in order to alleviate their suffering and restore our democracy.”

The formal request for a meeting between SouthCom commander, Adm Craig Faller, and “appropriate members of the Guaidó administration” is the closest the Guaidó camp has come to requesting US military intervention to help oust Maduro, since a 30 April uprising failed to draw significant backing from the country’s generals.

SouthCom’s headquarters in Florida did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Vecchio letter. Faller said in a tweet last week that he was willing to meet the “legitimate” Venezuelan government to discuss “how we can support the future role of those [Venezuelan army] leaders who make the right decision, put the Venezuela people first and restore constitutional order”.

Guiadó told supporters at a rally in Caracas on Saturday that he would send Vecchio to meet SouthCom “to be able to establish a direct and far-reaching relationship in terms of cooperation”.

The national assembly is debating a possible return to a cold war agreement, Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, known as the Rio pact, which would provide a possible legal basis for intervention. Venezuela and other left-leaning Latin American states pulled out of the pact in 2012. The US and much of western Europe and Latin America recognise Guaidó as Venezuela’s head of state on the grounds that Maduro’s re-election last year was rigged. Maduro’s allies include Russia, Cuba and China.

“I think that the [Guaidó camp] are more willing to entertain the idea or at least to look at what the options might be. And it might not be an invasion. [It could be] send an aircraft carrier or send more naval assets or send more advisers and things to Colombia and Brazil,” said Adam Isacson, director for defence oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America.

“Just about everybody who supports a military option in Venezuela – which I don’t – their hope is that they can just rattle the sabers really loudly and really close to Venezuela, and that alone would cause enough division in the Venezuelan military that the military would pull away from Maduro.” </s> Guaido, the man who need the US to be president

CARACAS – Carlos Vecchio, the representative of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, reported that he officially requested support for the US Southern Command to advance strategic and operational planning.

“I write at the direction of the Interim president of Venezuela, Juan Guaido. We are grateful to the United States for its friendship, resolve and readiness to support our continued efforts to place Venezualan people first and look forward to fruitful planning and coordinaton. According, I respectfully request a meeting at United States Southern Command with appropriate members of the Guaido Administration,” Carlos Vecchio said on behalf of Juan Guaidó as Chargé d’Affaires of Venezuela in the USA.

He also published his letter to the head of the US Southern Command, Admiral Craig Falle, where he writes that the interim government thanks and receives US support and confirms our willingness to begin talks regarding the cooperation that had been offered by his command.

In addition, Vecchio called for a meeting between the US Southern Command and the appropriate members of President Guaido’s interim government.

The letter was sent on May 11. On the same day Guaidó stated that he instructed “our representative Carlos Vecchio to meet with the Southern Command to establish direct relations to achieve cooperation.”

“We instruct our representative Carlos Vecchio to meet with the Southern Command to establish direct relations to achieve cooperation,” said Guaidó.

Venezuela has dealt with a serious political crisis, with opposition leader Juan Guaidó proclaiming himself interim president of the country on January 23.

The US and several countries in Europe and Latin America, including Brazil, have recognized Guaidó as interim president of the country.

Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Turkey, Mexico, Iran and many other countries expressed their support for Maduro as the legitimate president and demanded that other countries respect the principle of non-interference in Venezuelan internal affairs.

However, the Bolivarian defense forces have pledged their loyalty to Maduro and are fully prepared to defend the country from a US military invasion. </s> Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó said on Saturday he has asked his envoy to the United States to meet with Pentagon officials to "cooperate" on a solution to the South American country's political crisis.

Guaidó, the leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, added he had received word from China that the country would join a diplomatic effort between European and Latin American countries, known as the International Contact Group on Venezuela, to negotiate an end to the crisis.

In January, Guaidó invoked the OPEC nation's constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing President Nicolas Maduro's 2018 re-election was illegitimate. He has been recognized by most Western and Latin American countries, but Maduro has retained the support of allies China, Russia and Cuba.

Guaidó's effort to oust Maduro so he can take power and call new elections has stalled in recent weeks, after an attempted military uprising on April 30 was put down. Guaidó told an Italian newspaper this week that he would "probably" accept a U.S. military intervention if the United States proposed it.

"We have instructed our ambassador Carlos Vecchio to meet immediately ... with the Southern Command and its admiral to establish a direct relationship," Guaidó said at a rally in Caracas on Saturday. "We have said from the beginning that we will use all the resources at our disposal to build pressure."

Representatives of the U.S. Southern Command and Vecchio did not immediately respond to requests for comment. President Donald Trump's administration officials have repeatedly said that "all options are on the table" to oust Maduro, who calls Guaidó a U.S. puppet seeking to oust him in a coup. The White House however seems to be cold on the possibility of boots on the ground in the unstable country.

The Southern Command said in a tweet on Thursday that it was prepared to discuss "how we can support the future role" of Venezuelan armed forces leaders who "restore constitutional order," when invited by Guaidó.

Venezuela's Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino separately said on Saturday that a U.S. Coast Guard ship had entered Venezuelan territorial waters, which he said "we will not accept."

A Southern Command spokesman had said on Friday that a U.S. Coast Guard vessel was conducting a "counterdrug detection and monitoring mission" in "international waters" in the Caribbean Sea on May 9.

Guaidó was speaking at a rally in support of opposition lawmakers who have been arrested, taken refuge at foreign embassies in Caracas, and been threatened in recent days amid a broad crackdown by Maduro against congress after the April 30 uprising.

Most Latin American countries, as well as the European Union, have expressed opposition to potential military intervention in Venezuela. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said last week the contact group is prepared to begin a "mission at the political level" in Caracas.

While Guaidó has been recognized by some prominent states, Italy is explaining its refusal to recognize the Venezuelan opposition leader as interim president, saying it doesn't want to contribute to any "radicalization" of sides in the political crisis.

In a letter Saturday in La Stampa daily, Premier Giuseppe Conte said Italy considers Guaidó the democratically elected president of the National Assembly, and that President Nicolás Maduro has no "democratic legitimacy."

However he said the government wouldn't recognize Guaidó for "formal-juridical" reasons and "because it is aware of the risk of contributing to the radicalization of various positions and favoring a spiral of violence with the result of making conditions for the people even more dramatic." </s> CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Saturday said he’s 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.

Guaidó said he’s asked Carlos Vecchio, whom the United States recognizes as Venezuela’s ambassador, to open “direct communications” toward possible military “coordination.”

The remarks, at the end of a rally Saturday, were one of his strongest public pleas yet for greater U.S. involvement in the country’s escalating crisis. While Guaidó has repeatedly echoed comments from the Trump administration that “all options” are on the table for removing Maduro, few in the U.S. or Venezuelan opposition view military action as likely, nor has the White House indicated it’s seriously considering such a move.

But with tensions between the U.S. and Maduro running high, the saber rattling is getting louder.

On Saturday, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino condemned what he said was an illegal incursion by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter into Venezuelan territorial waters. He provided no evidence to back the claim but said that the Venezuelan Navy vessels forced it to withdraw.

“I don’t know if other republics will accept actions like this in their jurisdiction, but we will not,” he said.

U.S. Army Col. Amanda Azubuike, a Southern Command spokeswoman, said a U.S. Coast Guard vessel was conducting a drug interdiction mission in the international waters of the Caribbean Sea. She declined to provide further comment.

In past days, Padrino also denounced what he said were attempts by the U.S. military to sow discord inside Venezuela’s barracks, inviting an angry response from U.S. Navy Adm. Craig Faller, the head of Southern Command, who said he “stands ready” to assist Guaidó.

“I look forward to discussing how we can support the future role of those (leaders of Venezuelan armed forces) who make the right decision, put the Venezuela people first & restore constitutional order,” Faller said.

As head of the embattled National Assembly, Guaidó launched a campaign in January to oust Maduro, gaining the support of the United States and more than 50 nations.

He announced Saturday a forthcoming meeting with U.S. military officials and said that new actions taken by the opposition will seek to “achieve the necessary pressure” to put an end to the Bolivarian revolution launched 20 years ago by the late socialist President Hugo Chávez.

Guaidó has said that as Venezuela’s self-proclaimed leader he reserves the right to invite foreign military actions in the same way independence hero Simon Bolivar hired 5,000 British mercenaries to liberate South America from Spain. He says any such help should be considered “cooperation,” instead of intervention, something he has accused Maduro of allowing in the form of military and intelligence support from allies Cuba and Russia.

How that argument will play throughout South and Central America, most of whose countries have seen U.S. interventions to support corrupt and murderous governments over the years, remains to be seen.

In recent days, Maduro’s government has sought to ramp up its own pressure on the opposition with the arrest of the No. 2 leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, Edgar Zambrano. Several other anti-Maduro lawmakers have sought refuge in the embassies of foreign nations as the country’s top court announced investigations of Zambrano and nine other members of congress.

Meanwhile, noticeably diminished crowds at opposition protests reflected a growing fear and demoralization that has permeated Guaidó’s ranks of supporters after he led a failed military uprising on April 30. In previous months, thousands of demonstrators heeded his calls to protest.

On Saturday, a modest crowd of several hundred gathered in the capital of Caracas.

“We live in dictatorship,” Guaidó said, urging his supporters to press forward in their campaign to oust Maduro. “We don’t have the option to stay at home waiting, but to keep demanding our rights in the streets.”

Guaidó claims that Maduro illegitimately won a second term in rigged elections and has declared himself interim president of Venezuela.

Maduro has maintained control of the military by securing the loyalty of top commanders. He calls Guaidó a “puppet” of the Trump administration and says that the United States is supporting a coup to oust him to exploit the country’s vast oil wealth.

“The U.S. Empire aims to end the Bolivarian Revolution,” Maduro tweeted early Saturday, boasting of the country’s education and social security systems. “We show the world that we can do social justice.”

A once-wealthy oil nation, Venezuela has sunk into economic and social collapse marked by soaring inflation and scarcity of basic goods that has sent an estimated 3.7 million of its citizens to emigrate. </s> Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Saturday said he's 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.

An opponent of the Nicolas Maduro government, his mouth covered with strands representing the national colors of Venezuela, waits for the arrival of opposition leader Juan Guaidó to lead a rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, May 11, 2019. Guaidó has called for nationwide marches protesting the Maduro government, demanding new elections and the release of jailed opposition lawmakers. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Saturday said he's 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.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Saturday said he’s 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.”

The remarks, at the end of a rally Saturday, mark one of his strongest public pleas yet for greater U.S. involvement in the country’s fast-escalating crisis. While Guaidó has repeatedly echoed comments from the Trump administration that “all options” are on the table for removing Maduro, few in the U.S. or Venezuelan opposition view military action as likely nor has the White House indicated it’s seriously considering such a move.

But with tensions between the U.S. and Maduro running high, the saber rattling is getting louder.

On Saturday, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino condemned what he said was an illegal incursion by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter into Venezuelan territorial waters. He provided no evidence to back the claim but said that the Venezuelan Navy vessels forced it to withdraw..

“I don’t know if other republics will accept actions like this in their jurisdiction, but we will not,” he said.

Army Col. Amanda Azubuike, a South Command spokeswoman, said a U.S. Coast Guard vessel was conducting a drug interdiction mission in the international waters of the Caribbean Sea. She declined to provide further comment.

In past days, Padrino also denounced what he said were attempts by the U.S. military to sow discord inside Venezuela’s barracks, inviting an angry response from U.S. Navy Adm. Craig Faller, the head of South Command, who said he “stands ready” to assist Guaidó.

“I look forward to discussing how we can support the future role of those (leaders of Venezuelan armed forces) who make the right decision, put the Venezuela people first & restore constitutional order,” Faller said.

As head of the embattled National Assembly, Guaidó launched a campaign in January to oust Maduro, gaining the support of the U.S. and more than 50 nations.

He announced Saturday a forthcoming meeting with U.S. military officials and said that new actions taken by the opposition will seek to “achieve the necessary pressure” to put an end to the Bolivarian revolution launched 20 years ago by the late socialist President Hugo Chávez.

Guaidó has said that as Venezuela’s rightful leader he reserves the right to invite foreign military actions in the same way independence hero Simon Bolivar hired 5,000 British mercenaries to liberate South America from Spain. He says any such help should be considered “cooperation,” instead of intervention, something he has accused Maduro of allowing in the form of military and intelligence support from allies Cuba and Russia.

In recent days, the government has sought to ramp up its own pressure on the opposition with the arrest of the No. 2 leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, Edgar Zambrano. Several other anti-Maduro lawmakers have sought refuge in the embassies of foreign nations as the country’s top court announced investigations of Zambrano and nine other members of congress.

Meanwhile, noticeably diminished crowds at opposition protests reflected a growing fear and demoralization that has permeated Guaidó’s ranks of supporters after he led a failed military uprising on April 30. In previous months, thousands of demonstrators heeded his calls to protest.

On Saturday, a modest crowd of several hundred Venezuelans gathered in the capital of Caracas.

“We live in dictatorship,” Guaidó said, urging his supporters to press forward in their campaign to oust his foe. “We don’t have the option to stay at home waiting, but to keep demanding our rights in the streets.”

Guaidó argues that Maduro illegitimately won a second term in rigged elections and has boldly declared himself interim president of Venezuela.

Maduro has maintained control of the military by securing the loyalty of top commanders. He calls Guaidó a “puppet” of the Trump administration and says that the U.S. is supporting a coup to oust him to exploit the country’s vast oil wealth.

“The U.S. Empire aims to end the Bolivarian Revolution,” Maduro tweeted early Saturday, boasting of the country’s education and social security systems. “We show the world that we can do social justice.”

A once-wealthy oil nation, Venezuela has sunk into economic and social collapse marked by soaring inflation and a scarcity of basic goods that has sent an estimated 3.7 million of its citizens to emigrate.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> By The Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaidó seeks contact with U.S. military to pressure President Nicolás Maduro’s exit.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaidó seeks contact with U.S. military to pressure President Nicolás Maduro’s exit.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> CARACAS: Venezuela reacted with outrage on Monday (May 13) after the opposition openly courted US military support, with the regime denouncing what it called a "repugnant" attempt to plot an armed intervention in the crisis-torn country.

Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez lambasted the move by opposition leader Juan Guaido's representative in Washington, accusing him of paving the way for a US "military intervention."

Guaido's envoy Carlos Vecchio sent a letter to US Southern Command Chief General Craig Faller requesting a meeting to discuss closer cooperation "with the aim of alleviating the suffering of the Venezuelan people and restoring democracy," his aides said on Monday.

Faller last week warned the Venezuelan army it must decide whether to support the people or a "tyrant" - a reference to embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

Despite economic collapse and international isolation, the embattled socialist president has to date retained the support of the powerful military.

Guaido, locked in a power struggle with Maduro since he declared himself interim president in January - winning recognition from more than 50 countries - has sought to ratchet up pressure on the regime abroad as his support at home has waned.

However, his open courting of the US Southern Command, responsible for the Latin American region, is a bold new step for Guaido, following the failure of an Apr 30 uprising.

It comes after Faller said in a tweet on Friday that he was at Guaido's disposal to discuss "support" for military leaders who abandon Maduro.

Vecchio's office said the meeting could take place in the coming days.

"We read and we reject this repugnant letter, in which one of the coup leaders hiding today in Washington, asks for military intervention in Venezuela," Rodriguez said in her speech.

Alongside Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, she said such a "submissive" stance was not only to be condemned but was "doomed to failure."

Padrino and army chiefs have made repeated public pledges of support for Maduro and high-profile defections have been few and far between.

In a video message posted late Sunday on Twitter, the Venezuelan air force's General Ramon Rangel urged the military to forsake Maduro. "It's time to rise up, it's time to fight," he urged.

Rangel - who appeared in civilian clothes and whose location is unknown - is the latest of several military figures to call on Venezuela's military to abandon Maduro.

Army sources in Caracas dismissed Rangel as irrelevant, saying he had not been active in the military for years.

Another air force general, Francisco Yanez, pledged his allegiance to opposition leader Juan Guaido on Feb 2 - but with few exceptions, the army has remained in Maduro's corner.

The highest-profile defector has been intelligence chief Cristopher Figuera, who joined the opposition last month.

Figuera and 55 other officers have been expelled from the Venezuelan armed forces, and Maduro has followed up with a crackdown on lawmakers who backed Guaido's uprising, chipping away at his support base inside the country.

At his weekly anti-government rally on Saturday, Guaido urged his supporters to maintain nationwide protests in the face of the crackdown, in which his deputy Edgar Zambrano and nine others have been arrested for treason.

Some 1,500 to 2,000 people filled a square in an opposition-friendly part of eastern Caracas to hear Guaido, but that was far fewer than the several thousands who took part in earlier protests.

Maduro, re-elected last year in elections widely seen as rigged, has presided over the collapse of once-rich Venezuela, which sits on the world's biggest oil reserves.

The country has suffered more than four years of recession marked by shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine.

The United Nations says a quarter of Venezuela's 30 million population are in urgent need of aid, and more than 2.7 million have fled the deprivation.

The United States, Guaido's main international backer, has not ruled out a military intervention to resolve the Venezuelan crisis, which Maduro said is a naked attempt to appropriate the country's vast oil reserves.

In his letter, Vecchio said "the conditions in Venezuela are worsening, as a consequence of the corrupt, incompetent and illegitimate regime of the usurper Nicolas Maduro." </s> MOSCOW, Russia – The head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Senate, Konstantin Kosachev, declared on Wednesday that the status of President of Venezuela is determined by the people, so Russia does not recognize the presidential status of opposition candidate Juan Guaidó.

“Guaidó’s status can not be determined by the outside world, be it the president of the United States or any other country. It can only be determined by the people of Venezuela and only by constitutional means,” said the senator.

“In this sense, for Russia, the presidential status of Guaidó does not exist,” emphasized Kosachev.

The US has previously announced that Nicolás Maduro no longer recognizes Venezuela’s president, and considers National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó as the country’s head of state.

US leader Donald Trump spoke to Venezuela’s self-proclaimed president on Wednesday and congratulated him on his “historic takeover”, confirming strong support for Venezuela’s struggle to restore democracy.

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó said he had held “confidential meetings” with the Venezuelan army for support. According to the Russian expert of the School of Economics, Andrei Suzdaltsev, we must take these statements very carefully, adding that the current situation depends mainly on the Armed Forces.

Juan Guaidó wrote in an article in The New York Times that he had clandestine meetings with members of the Armed Forces and security forces, noting that withdrawal of military support to Maduro is crucial to allow a change in government.”

“For me, it is difficult to believe that the opposition meets with [Nicolás] Maduro’s intelligence services. Such contacts can not occur, nor with the army,” said Suzdaltsev.

“If there had been meetings, there would have been results, of course in this case they would have informed us, so these statements are just pressure on the government,” he said.

“As long as the military and the security forces support Maduro, he will remain unshakable, but it is not known how long this can continue. So now the future of the government is in the hands of the military,” he concluded. </s> The United States Southern Command criticized Russia as it released images Sunday of a Venezuelan fighter jet it said "aggressively shadowed" a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft flying over the Caribbean last week.

Details: The Russian-made SU-30 Flanker approached the U.S. Navy EP-3 Aries II "at an unsafe distance" in international airspace and in an "unprofessional manner" on Friday, the United States Southern Command said in a statement.

The other side: Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said the American plane entered Venezuelan airspace without earlier notification, violating international rules and endangering commercial flights from the country’s main airport, according to the Washington Post.

The big picture: The incident comes amid a months-long power struggle between Maduro and Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who has the support of the U.S. — which has imposed sanctions on the country in an attempt to pressure Maduro to step down.
Venezuelan National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó formally requests help from the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) for "strategic and operational planning" against the government of Nicolás Maduro.