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US military intervention in Venezuela seems to be on the cards as Donald Trump said that it was “an option.” Socialist leader Nicolas Maduro has refused to let aid into Venezuela and has turned down meetings with the US President.
Washington: US President Donald Trump is considering military intervention in Venezuela as "an option." The American President said so on Sunday. Socialist leader Nicolas Maduro is under tremendous pressure by western countries to hand over power to self-proclaimed interim President Juan Guaidó.
On January 23, the United States recognised Guaidó as interim president. Maduro is accused of being an authoritarian ruler and Guaidó is driving a global campaign to ensure Maduro’s ouster.
"Well, I don't want to say that. But certainly, it is something that is on the -- it's an option," Trump told CBS News when asked if the US would send its force in the crisis-wracked Venezuela.
Guaidó says the Constitution allows him to serve as interim president as Maduro's re-election last May was invalid.
Trump has repeatedly warned that "all options are on the table" in Venezuela, as US ramps up the pressure on Maduro through economic sanctions and appeals to the country's armed forces to switch allegiances.
Under Maduro's leadership, Venezuela has gone into an economic crisis that left it suffering from hyperinflation and food and medicine shortages.
Maduro refuses to let aid into Venezuela, claiming that it would precede a US-led military intervention.
Trump also said Maduro had requested a meeting with him a few months ago but he "turned it down".
He said the US will not negotiate with the Maduro regime "because so many really horrible things have been happening in Venezuela...That was the wealthiest country of all in that part of the world...And now you look at the poverty...the anguish...the crime."
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