WILL THE US INVADE VENEZUELA? BY GUSTAVO AZÓCAR ALCALÁ

The official speech says that Nicolás Maduro traveled to China this week, on a 4-day flash tour, to sign 28 agreements with the Xi Jinping regime and seek a loan for 5 billion dollars to help him resolve, momentarily, the cash flow of the revolution. But, strangely, the Chinese government has not talked about money, or loan, or anything like it. The Chinese have been extremely sparing in referring to the subject.

Those who want to believe in the cheap propaganda of the regime are fully entitled to do so. I am one of those who believe that Maduro's tour to China had only one clear purpose: to transmit to the US and the world, the fiction that the Chinese support the Venezuelan socialist and Bolivarian revolution, and that they are willing to do everything necessary to defend the Venezuelan communist regime against the possibility of a foreign military intervention.
Just review each and every one of the 28 agreements announced by Maduro in China. None of those documents speaks of a loan of 5 billion dollars. They are documents that do not commit China at all. They are simple greetings to the flag. Pure cheap props to disguise the real reason for the trip: to create the fiction that the Chinese will defend Maduro and his dictatorship from a possible US military attack.

The staging of Nicolás Maduro in China was strictly limited to what was necessary: a photo here, another photo there, an agreement here, a memorandum there, and nothing else. The Chinese not only did not speak of a loan, but did not even say when a new outlay of money might occur. And that's the case, for the simple reason that the tour was not for a financial purpose, but rather for a political purpose. It is no coincidence that Maduro's tour to China took place a few hours before the arrival in Colombia of the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, and a few hours after the telephone conversation between the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, and the president of Colombia, Iván Duque.

Our hypothesis is that Maduro went to China because he feels cornered. The international pressure is having an effect. The dictatorship is waters The reports prepared by the Cuban G2 and the Russian intelligence services indicate that the possibility of a military intervention led by the US in Venezuela is 99.9%. The migration crisis provoked by the dictatorship, which sent 2.3 million Venezuelans to neighboring nations, has created an unprecedented continental tragedy that has reacted to the international community. Claims are coming from all corners of the world for democratic governments to do something and soon. That has meant that the military option proposed by Donald Trump, in August of 2017, is gaining momentum. Nobody talks about elections anymore. Nobody talks about dialogue. Everyone talks about a military solution in Venezuela.

The United States government was the first to openly raise a military solution for Venezuela. That happened on August 11, 2017, when US President Donald Trump said: "We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option if necessary (...) I will not rule out a military option (...). A military option is something that we can certainly pursue (...) We have troops all over the world, in places that are far away. Venezuela is not far away. And people are suffering and are dying. "

Just two weeks ago, the Republican senator of Cuban origin, Marco Rubio, said that "for months and years he had defended a non-military and peaceful option in Venezuela, but now circumstances have changed."
And not to be left behind, yesterday Friday, September 14, 2018, Luis Almagro, secretary general of the OAS, took advantage of a visit made to the Colombian-Venezuelan border, to declare from the Simón Bolívar international bridge, that "As for the military intervention to overthrow Nicolás Maduro, we must not rule out any option (...) This regime is perpetrating crimes against humanity, violation of human rights, and the suffering of people in the induced exodus that is driving makes the actions diplomatic are in first place, but we should not rule out any action. "

Thus, the letters seem to be thrown out, but the final decision, on an American military intervention in Venezuela, depends, fundamentally, on Donald Trump. The democratic governments of Latin America may not directly intervene in the conflict. But they will not do anything to prevent it either. And although Trump is keen to end the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro and the problems it has caused on the continent, such a decision will not be adopted without the current president of the United States evaluating, like any good businessman, the profit and loss statement that a decision like that can produce.
Just two weeks ago, the Republican senator of Cuban origin, Marco Rubio, said that "for months and years he had defended a non-military and peaceful option in Venezuela, but now circumstances have changed."

And not to be left behind, yesterday Friday, September 14, 2018, Luis Almagro, secretary general of the OAS, took advantage of a visit made to the Colombian-Venezuelan border, to declare from the Simón Bolívar international bridge, that "As for the military intervention to overthrow Nicolás Maduro, we must not rule out any option (...) This regime is perpetrating crimes against humanity, violation of human rights, and the suffering of people in the induced exodus that is driving makes the actions diplomatic are in first place, but we should not rule out any action. "

Thus, the letters seem to be thrown out, but the final decision, on an American military intervention in Venezuela, depends, fundamentally, on Donald Trump. The democratic governments of Latin America may not directly intervene in the conflict. But they will not do anything to prevent it either. And although Trump is keen to end the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro and the problems it has caused on the continent, such a decision will not be adopted without the current president of the United States evaluating, like any good businessman, the profit and loss statement that a decision like that can produce.

Por Gustavo Azócar Alcalá