Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Trump's Miami Speech High on Hyperbole Against Venezuela, Cuba
“We seek a peace- all options are open," U.S. President Donald Trump said, without publicly eliminating the fear of a militarized intervention. | Photo: Reuters

18 February 2019
Telesur

Changes were coming to socialist Latin American countries, Trump said, without expanding further or offering any concrete measures.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s talk in Miami, Florida Monday was high on hyperbole and low on concrete plans, despite previews illustrating a more direct criticism of Venezuela’s political situation and the Bolivarian military’s position.

During the thirty-minute speech, the president reaffirmed his country’s support for the self-declared interim president, Juan Guaido, and attacked socialism and its role in Latin America and alleged attempts to bring it to the United States.

Trump told the large Venezuelan congregation gathered at Miami’s Florida International University, “A new day is coming to Latin America."

"The end of socialism has arrived in our hemisphere and in all parts of the world, not only in Venezuela but also in Nicaragua and Cuba," said Trump, who stressed his attack on socialism by defining it as an ideology "based on ignorance."

Over the last year, the northern power has repeatedly attempted to overthrow democratically-elected Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro through various means. First with sanctions, then with threats of a militarized intervention, and more recently coercing its allies to back the self-proclaimed interim president, the opposition lawmaker, Juan Guaido, all with the purpose of confiscating Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, according to U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Trump’s proposal of a militarized intervention into the Bolivarian nation has been rejected by Congress, however, the president has continued his attempts to violate international law and send unsolicited “humanitarian aid” to the “poor Venezuelan boys and girls.”

Earlier Tuesday, the president urged Venezuela’s military to abandon Maduro and side with Guaido.

Trump went on to say to the far right crowd that the current path toward democracy is irreversible in Venezuela and that “Venezuelan military officials have a clear choice - work toward democracy for their future and the future of their families, or they will lose everything they have.”

“The United States knows where military officials and their families have money hidden throughout the world… so they "should listen to President (Juan) Guaidó and allow humanitarian aid to enter Venezuela," the White House said.

Minutes after Trump’s speech, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez tweeted, “Miami president's offensive speech #EEUU confirms the threat of military aggression against #Venezuela. It is time to pronounce ourselves, above political differences, in defense of #Peace. Humanitarian aid is a pretext for a war of oil plunder.

“Trump offends the sovereignty of #Venezuela, the cradle of the Liberator and independence. The solidarity of the #Cuba Bolivarian and Chavez Revolution,  President Maduro and the civic-military union. Paradoxically, Trump tries to impose a puppet "president" invented in Washington,” the diplomat wrote.

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