U.S. troops deployed into Venezuela is yet a live option, according to U.S. President Donald Trump. Asked at his Jan. 3 press conference whether there will be boots on the ground in Venezuela, Trump plunged forward, responding: “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground. We’re not afraid of it. We don’t mind saying it, and we’re gonna make sure that that country is run properly. We’re not doing this in vain.” Trump appeared to confirm that approach with his remarks later in the day to the New York Post, that U.S. troops on the ground would not be necessary as long as Rodríguez “does what we want.”
Then in today’s interview with The Atlantic, the magazine reported that “Trump delivered a direct threat to Rodríguez: ‘if she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,’ referring to Nicolás Maduro, now residing in a New York City jail cell. Trump made clear that he would not stand for Rodríguez’s defiant rejection of the armed U.S. intervention that resulted in Maduro’s capture.” In her public statements and those of the Venezuelan armed forces, they continue to denounce the “colonialist vision,” the “attack on Venezuela’s sovereignty,” and the illegal abduction of President Maduro “after the cold-blooded murder of a large part of his security team, soldiers, and innocent citizens,” a televised statement of the entire military high command reported.
Trump is “essentially trying to control the vice president and people around her through carrots and sticks to get the outcomes the United States wants,” said Matthew Kroenig, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. “We’ll see if it works.”
Retired Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton, according to CNN, cautioned: “The risk with Venezuela is that it could be a hostile environment as well, and that could put U.S. forces in great danger.” He explained that, in that scenario, the Venezuelan military has had plans for years that indicate it would engage in guerrilla warfare, Leighton added. An insurgency could involve Venezuelan forces melting back into the hills or hiding in city slums while attacking U.S. troops. “So these are the kinds of things that we definitely would have to be prepared for and could very well become a force protection nightmare if it’s not handled carefully and if the governance isn’t put in place to really in essence make for that to happen.”
