John Bolton, Donald Trump's National Security Advisor, has never been found to love humanity excessively. But it's he who's now soliciting humanitarian aid to Venezuela. He's doing this so persistently that even the International Committee of the Red Cross can't keep up with him. But judging by social media, certain loads are already being delivered. The U.S. Air Force transport planes have been detected in the sky of Colombia, bordering Venezuela. At least three C17 have brought something to Bogota airport. Also, armored vehicles are on the move at the border between Colombia and Venezuela.
According to the author, the video was made near the Colombian city of Cúcuta, 11 miles from the border with Venezuela. Shooting is heard in another video taken near the Simón Bolívar International Bridge which crosses the Táchira River just on the border.
Admiral Craig Faller, leading the U.S. Southern Command, unexpectedly appeared in the same Colombian city of Cúcuta. He's reported to have examined Colombia-Venezuela border together with the Colombian generals.
Vladimir Zaemsky, Russian Ambassador to Venezuela: "Naturally, the question arises why a U.S. senior military official took the time to inspect the border. Of course, all this is much alarming, I mean the plans that are being hatched regarding Venezuela, and if these are the plans that we deduce from the photos of Bolton's notes or from other various sources which prove the warmongers' aggression"/
The notes read: "5,000 troops to Colombia"/ It does not make much sense to guess if Bolton showed it by accident or intentionally as America is actually directly threatening Venezuela with a military invasion.
"All options are on the table".
- What would make you use the U.S. military in Venezuela?
Donald Trump: "Well, I don't want to say that but that's an option".
Washington is clearly waiting for the sanctions stranglehold thrown on Venezuela to tighten. The accounts of the PDVSA state oil company and the Central Bank in the United States are blocked, contractors are abandoning Venezuela’s oil, unwilling to be slapped with US sanctions. As for the country's gold reserves worth more than a billion dollars, the Bank of England which keeps them has refused to release them to Nicolas Maduro. It will only give them out to Juan Guaidó who remained unknown for many Venezuelans until a week and a half ago and who suddenly declared himself the president of Venezuela literally after a call from Washington.
"The night before Juan Guaidó declared himself the president of Venezuela, the opposition leader received a phone call from Vice President Mike Pence. Mr. Pence pledged that the U.S. would back Mr. Guaidó. This late night call triggered a secret plan designed over the past few weeks accompanied by negotiations between US officials, allies, lawmakers, and high-profile figures of the Venezuelan opposition".
He was born in a family of a pilot and a teacher far from the capital. He is a mestizo. Guaidó is a trained mining engineer. He enjoys the image of a man of the people. Western media report that cash-strapped Juan Guaidó had a hard time studying in Caracas. But, nevertheless, he came to the U.S. capital to receive degree here. Guaidó obtained the Master degree in Public Administration at George Washington University, his tutor being a Venezuelan ex-senior official fired by Hugo Chávez.
According to American journalist Dan Cohen, Guaidó and four other “student leaders” arrived in Belgrade in 2005 to take part in training organized by Otpor, a Serbian radical group, the members of which had eventually toppled Slobodan Milosevic. After the collapse of Yugoslavia, Otpor, supported by U.S. funds related to the CIA, came to Georgia, Ukraine, and Venezuela. This is how the clenched fist has covered thousands of kilometers to move from the emblem of the Serbian group to the logo of the youth opposition in Caracas. But it slightly changed: the fist became an open palm, while Otpor turned into Resistencia! (Resistance).
They started with non-violent methods like an outrageous demonstration of butts to the police to move on to the force methods like Molotov cocktails, cables drawn across the street which cut motorcyclists' heads off, barricades of burning tires, guarimbas. Now the video has been removed from Guaidó's Twitter because it does not fit in with the image of a peaceful democracy advocate. And the Wikipedia article with the self-proclaimed president's biography has been edited more than 30 times.
Juan Guaidó: "I remember in 2007, we shouted "students," now we shout "Resistance! Resistance!" Let's go. Yes, we can".
After the bloody unrest, opposition leaders Guaidó didn't belong to were prosecuted. Some of them escaped. At least two of them are now in Washington. They are welcome at the White House. Carlos Vecchio has even been proclaimed Ambassador of Venezuela to the United States.
Carlos Vecchio, member of Venezuelan opposition: "We want to end the dictatorship of Maduro. We're asking for the world to liberate Venezuela".
The situation is rather exotic. Carlos Vecchio, an ambassador officially recognized by the State Department, has no embassy as the Venezuelan diplomatic mission located in this building in the Washington historic center is still loyal to Maduro. Rallies of left-wing and anti-war movements were held near the embassy and in front of the White House under the slogan "No More Coups".
"I was born in 1947, and I saw all those atrocities, all the governments toppled throughout the world. It was horrible and shameful as well as the coup in Chile. I hoped it would end, but it didn't".
Washington's main task now is to swing the army. Therefore, on CNN, former Venezuelan military officials living outside Venezuela call on Trump to give weapons to fight, while the NYT features Guaidó's article hinting that he is in secret negotiations with the army.
Alexander Khristenko, Nikolai Koskin, Vesti Nedeli from Washington, the USA.
