There was an unusual request from a prominent military leader that made its way to the White House. But nothing happened.
CARACAS, Venezuela — Around May 2017, an unusual request from a prominent Venezuelan general made its way to the White House: Gen. Ivan Hernández, head of both the presidential guard and military counterintelligence, wanted to send his 3-year-old son to Boston for brain surgery and needed visas for his family.
Bolton said Hernández, Padrino and Supreme Court Chief Justice Maikel Moreno chose to stick with Maduro at the moment of truth: when opposition leader Juan Guaidó appeared Tuesday on a highway overpass surrounded by a small cadre of armed troops ready for what he said was the"final phase" of a campaign to rescue Venezuela's democracy known as Operation Freedom.
But some analysts doubt top military officials who have amassed immense power under Maduro, and are sanctioned by the U.S., ever seriously considered betraying him. Instead, they speculate that the opposition — and by extension, the U.S. — may have been duped by Cuban intelligence agents in Venezuela.National Security Advisor John Bolton walks to speak to Fox News outside the White House in Washington on May 1, 2019.One clue to the military officers' apparent reluctance to join any U.S.
"There's legitimate skepticism on the part of the U.S. to engage given the amount of Cuban coaching of the Maduro government," said Douglas Farah, a national security expert on Latin America and president of IBI Consultants. A year before Hernandez was rebuffed, his boss, Defense Minister Padrino Lopez, also sought contact with the U.S., according to the two other sources familiar with the matter.
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