Here is the Miami Herald's report from David Smiley and Martin Vassolo, Trump proclaims ‘twilight’ of socialism in the Americas during Miami speech on Venezuela 02/18/2019.
The speech was bizarre, even though he was obviously reading most of it from a prepared text on the teleprompter.
Trump in this speech sounded like a John Birch Society type circa 1959. Trump all but declared war on Venezuela, and seems to think he's himself the president of Venezuela as well as commander-in-chief of the armed forces there. Lots of Mussolini vibe in this one. He's obviously working the stop-socialism-in-America theme in close connection with the anti-Veneuela agitation.
But on Venezuela, with the regime change operation looking pretty tepid at the moment, what will the US do with Maduro calling his bluff and the military doesn't join the coup?
And with Trump playing a professional wrestler's version of Teddy Roosevelt on Venezuela, it really wouldn't too much to expect that the corporate press take a serious look at what the actual plans of the Juan Guaidó "government" are to solve the problems of the Venezuelan petrostate. Frances Coppola wrote a column four years ago called The Impending Collapse Of Venezuela Forbes 01/13/2015:
The balance of payments problem is bad enough. The falling oil price is causing a widening foreign exchange gap. Venezuela needs an oil price of $100 per barrel to balance its external accounts, but oil is falling rapidly towards $40 per barrel and so far, Venezuela has failed to persuade other oil producers to reduce production in order to support the price. Venezuela’s foreign exchange outflows now substantially exceed its inflows, not least because it is supporting a complex and unhelpful exchange rate system: its US$ reserves are down to $22bn and falling fast.Venezuela is actually an extreme case of the petrostate dilemma, meaning among other things that it is particularly vulnerable to swings in the price of oil. That wouldn't change if Maduro decided to throw in the towel tomorrow and let puppet "president" Juan Guaidó take over. The accusations of corruption around the national oil company PDvSA are particularly credible because corruption is a chronic problem of petrostates. See Putin's Russia, for instance.
Diversifying the petrostate economy to have less dependence on petroleum is another chronic dilemma. Agriculture has proven to be a particular challenge in Venezuela, which has a large amount of high-quality fertile land. But agriculture is stagnant literally because of a how're-you-gonna-keep-them-on-the-farm-after-they've-seen-Caracas problem. The oil business draws people into the cities, where they can get better wages and other benefits of urban life. Hugo Chavez' government made an effort to revitalize agriculture but it didn't have much success. Even in years of high oil prices, Venezuela has had a high level of violence, i.e., ordinary criminal violence. That always has multiple causes. But the ongoing disruption of rural communities by the migration to the cities is surley a contributing factor.
How the Guaidó government - when and if it actually become a real government - intends to remedy these problems is a question that American reporters should be asking. Prior to last month, polls showed that a large percentage of Venezuelans didn't know who Guaidó was, Is he going to be the actual president if the coup succeeds? Or will he be pushed aside for some other authoritarian goon or scamster? Remember this guy? Ahmad Chalabi, Iraqi Politician Who Pushed for U.S. Invasion, Dies at 71 by Sewell Chan New York Times 11/03/2015
I'll give Nadja Drost credit for this PBS Newshour interview with self-proclaimed "president" Guaidó, Of pushing out Maduro, Guaido says 'Venezuela already decided for change' 02/18/2019, transcript here:
She actually does challenge him with some important questions. Which he evaded by decided the stock regime change propaganda pitch.
She asks him, "You have said that all options are on the table. And I'm wondering, where are you going to draw the line in the sand if Maduro does not step down from power? Would you think about the possibility of an outside military intervention?"
Guaidó responds:
We have been clear in saying that all cards are on the table, the necessary pressure to achieve an end to the usurping [meaning Maduro's government], the transitional government [Guaidó himself] and the free elections, with the best social cost as possible, so that it generates governance and stability to the country, and it lets us have elections as soon as possible.Guaidó is making clear that if the real existing Venezuelan government blocks delivery of humanitarian aid by coup supporters, that would justify a violent action to remove Maduro's government, even violent action backed by a foreign military. That much is a clear statement from the nominal coup leader.
Our constitution is very clear. Venezuelans are the ones to authorize any use of violence. It is Venezuelans who will make the decision. Obviously, no one wants to get to that point. But, again, it is Maduro's choice to refuse something as elemental as humanitarian aid, a free election.
These are the clear demands for the Venezuelans. [my emphasis]
Drost keeps pressing him on what that means, and Guaidó keeps responding with stock propaganda lines. There may be ways to interpret the following interchange as something other than Elliott Abrams' boy Guaidó saying that Maduro has to surrender first and then they will negotiate but not before. But I can't think of what those other readings might be:
Nadja Drost:The portions of that interview reported there do not include any description of how Guaidó and his handlers in Washington and Miami plan to transmute Venezuela from a petrostate to not-a-petrostate.
Right now, there's many options on the table for how Maduro might possibly leave office.
Are you willing — in an effort to reduce the possibility of violent confrontation, is the opposition willing to participate in a model of co-governance for a temporary transition period with Maduro?
Juan Guaido:
The only one suggesting a violent confrontation is Maduro, with his military aggressions, when he threatens us with snipers.
We're going to continue the blueprint we followed for years in a way that's nonviolent, in a way that is peaceful. If they want to slaughter the people, they have the weapons. And they have already done it on some occasions.
So, having some sort of cooperation with Maduro, it seems not to make sense now. For there to be a transitional government, it seems that Maduro would have to be out of the scene.
Nadja Drost:
You have said that there's no possibility of co-governance with Maduro for a temporary period. Would you be willing to negotiate with him for him to leave office or accept elections?
Juan Guaido:
It's absolutely impossible to have a truly free election with someone who for years has kidnapped and killed, who prohibits humanitarian aid.
So it seems, at this moment, that it's not a path toward a free election, so that's not an option. [my emphasis]
And, once again, professional ghoul Elliott Abrams is the special US envoy in charge of this regime change operation. He has a very well established and thoroughly documented record. The results of any regime change project he's directing will be seriously ugly. Everyone in the US and elsewhere who are backing this coup operation have good reason to know who and what they are supporting when they back an Elliott Abrams project.
And the Miami Herald report on the speech linked above also draws attention to the larger Latin American regime change agenda in the lede paragraph, "President Donald Trump declared 2019 as the 'twilight of socialism' in the western hemisphere Monday during a speech in Miami and cast impending regime change in Venezuela as a harbinger of things to come in Cuba and Nicaragua."
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