The Trump administration will impose new visa restrictions on top officials of the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as President Trump’s new envoy to the crisis in Caracas said the time for a negotiated compromise with the socialist Maduro regime had passed.
Veteran diplomat Elliott Abrams, tapped by Mr. Trump as his special representative for Venezuela, announced Wednesday that the State Department will impose visa restrictions on Maduro regime officials and revoke visas for other allies of the government, including members of the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly.
The U.S. and allies across the Western Hemisphere and Europe say Mr. Maduro’s fraud-riddled election last year to a second term was illegitimate and that Juan Guaido, head of the National Assembly and leader of the opposition, is the rightful president until new elections can be organized.
“The time for dialogue with Maduro has long passed,” Mr. Abrams said at a rare public briefing Wednesday at the State Department. “We urge all involved to deal with the legitimate president,” Mr. Guaido.
Mr. Abrams said Mr. Maduro should be forced to leave Venezuela altogether once Mr. Guaido’s interim government takes power.
“I think it is better for the transition to democracy in Venezuela that he be outside the country, and there are a number of countries who I think would be willing to accept him,” he said.
Mr. Maduro continued to defy his domestic and international critics as the fast-moving crisis moved ahead on a number of fronts. Despite Venezuela’s deep economic crisis and chronic shortages, regime officials have blocked the country’s border crossings, preventing shipments of food, medicine and other international aid from coming into the country. Mr. Guaido had requested the aid.
In Uruguay, more than a dozen European and Latin American nations coming together as the “International Contact Group” issued a call for new elections to resolve the crisis peacefully. Mr. Trump has refused to take military action off the table, a threat Mr. Maduro has tried to use to rally his own supporters.
“We can have different points of view and readings about the causes of the crisis,” European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said during a speech in Montevideo. “But we share the same objective: wishing to contribute to a politically peaceful and democratic solution.”
In Washington, Mr. Abrams said U.S. officials would continue to move humanitarian aid shipments to Venezuela despite the regime’s border shutdown. “We will be moving aid to the border of Venezuela … in the hope that we will be able to get it in,” he said.
On Capitol Hill, the Pentagon’s top commander in South America told lawmakers Thursday that U.S. forces are prepared to defend American citizens and interests in Venezuela should the crisis escalate.
“The situation in Venezuela is dire,” Adm. Craig Faller, head of U.S. Southern Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Asked whether the Pentagon detected any weakening of the Maduro regime, Adm. Faller replied: “We are seeing results,” but not enough to effect major political change in Venezuela. The admiral said China and Russia have come to the aid of Mr. Maduro.
“China has not been helpful in a diplomatic way” in Venezuela and has carried out a number of cyberwarfare and influence operations against Mr. Guaido’s supporters, he said.
Some lawmakers warned that any decision to use U.S. military force would have to go through Congress first.
“Congress must be consulted if there is any military action beyond the current planning for the evacuation of U.S. citizens and embassy personnel,” said Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.
⦁ This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Carlo Muñoz can be reached at cmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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