On a day when the president spoke to Vladimir Putin — whose backing of Nicolás Maduro is causing tensions with the U.S. — Trump officials and national security experts said mounting talk of American military action in Venezuela is almost certainly hollow
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the Trump administration “will simply not rule out” military action in Venezuela. And on Friday, Trump administration officials met for the second day in a row at the Pentagon to discuss options for toppling the country’s embattled autocratic leader. Speaking to reporters back in March, national security adviser John Bolton held a yellow notepad with a line of text conspicuously visible: “5,000 troops to Colombia,” he had written.
Two U.S. officials told POLITICO these actions are designed more to rattle Maduro — and Venezuelan military leaders who have been a key source of support for him — than to foreshadow an American military effort in Venezuela. The U.S. has yet to deploy an aircraft carrier strike group to the region, which would represent the most visible sign of U.S. military power and the keystone of any Pentagon war plans.
The tough talk from U.S. officials has escalated since Bolton indicated earlier this week that senior Venezuelan military officials were in talks with the U.S.-backed opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, to potentially throw their support behind him.
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