US envoy: Venezuelan president seems set on staying in power
The US envoy to Venezuela Elliott Abrams says there are no signs that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is willing to resign from office despite the growing US and Western pressure.
Abrams said it was unlikely that Maduro would negotiate with opposition leader Juan Guaido to end the political impasse, adding that Washington would lift US sanctions once Maduro agreed to step down.
Abrams also said there was a very low possibility that the Venezuelan president was ready to talk about his exit. "From everything we have seen, Maduro's tactic is to stay put," Abrams said in an interview with Reuters.
Abrams, a Jewish neoconservative who has long advocated an interventionist US role around the world, has served in the administrations of former US Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
Referring to Cuba, the US envoy claimed that Cuba has been receiving free oil from Venezuela while offering intelligence and other protections for Maduro, describing Havana as "a parasite that has been feeding off Venezuela for decades.”
"There are thousands of Cuban officers, and literally, physically, around him. In some ways they are the key advisers to Maduro," Abrams said of Havana's role.
Cuba has denied it has security forces in Venezuela and said statements like Abrams' were part of a campaign of lies aimed at paving the way for US military intervention in the South American country.
Separately, US National Security Adviser John Bolton, another veteran neoconservative and warmonger, said in an interview with ABC News that the “momentum” favors Guaido.
“I’m not certain of anything, but I do think momentum is on the side of Guaido,” Bolton said, adding: “We’ll see what happens”
Bolton has also waged a war of words against Maduro, tweeting far more about Venezuela in his time as national security adviser than any other topic
Most Western countries have recognized Guaido as Venezuela's interim head of state, but Maduro retains the backing of Russia and China as well as control of state institutions including the military.
The administration of US President Donald Trump considers Maduro’s 2018 re-election a sham and recognized the 35-year-old Guaido as the country’s acting president in January.
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