US ready to take military action in Venezuela, says secretary of state Mike Pompeo

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US ready to take military action in Venezuela, says secretary of state Mike Pompeo
BY: Harry Robertson - City A.M. News 5-1-19
RE: http://www.cityam.com/277005/us-read...says-secretary

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo yesterday made unsubstantiated claims that Russia had convinced Venezuela's president to stay in the country. The United States is prepared to take military action in Venezuela, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said during a television interview today.

Pompeo told the Fox Business channel: “Military action is possible. If that’s what’s required, that’s what the United States will do.”

His comments come the day after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido joined with dozens of National Guard members in his latest attempt to topple President Nicolas Maduro, sparking violent protests.

Protesters yesterday clashed with the armed forces, who showed little signs of defecting from Maduro to the opposition. Maduro yesterday evening claimed troops loyal to him had defeated a Western imperialist plot and the “coup-mongering far right”.


The US secretary of state yesterday told television interviewers that Maduro was prepared to leave the country on Tuesday morning following Guaido’s calls for protests, but Russian intervention caused the president to stay.

Pompeo told CNN: “They had an airplane on the tarmac. He was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it. Russians indicated he should stay.”

Later in the day, Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, told CNN that the claim was not true.

The violent protests came three months after Guaido, the president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, invoked Venezuela’s constitution to declare himself president, arguing that the elections that returned Maduro in May 2018 were illegitimate.

Guaido and his many supporters in the National Assembly have gained the backing of the US and most Western countries including the UK, but Maduro has kept the support of Russia and China and, crucially, the armed forces.

Under Maduro the Venezuelan economy has collapsed, with living standards plummeting amid food, water and medicine shortages compounded by hyperinflation. Millions have fled while the president has also cracked down on dissent.

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Go to Venezuela and see the humanitarian crisis, Colombian ambassador urges Maduro's UK backers
By: Owen Bennett - City AM News 4/30/19
RE: http://www.cityam.com/276887/go-vene...isis-columbian

UK backers of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro should visit the South American country to see the reality of the devastating economic mismanagement which has forced millions to flee their homes, according to the Colombian ambassador to the UK.

In an exclusive interview with City A.M., Antonio José Ardila hit out at those who continue to offer political support to Maduro while South America is struggling to cope with more than three million refugees who have fled Venezuela.

A million of those have settled in Colombia, and Ardila claimed the humanitarian crisis is on a scale not seen before on the continent.

The UK has today announced it is pumping £8m into a dedicated World Bank fund to help Colombia deal with the crisis, with the money being used to help fund infrastructure developments and provide other vital support for the refugees.


Speaking to City A.M. in the Colombian embassy in Knightsbridge, Ardila was clear that it was the Venezuelan government’s catastrophic mishandling of the country’s economy that had caused the crisis.

Yet despite a swathe of world leaders calling on Maduro to stand down as president to allow democrat elections to take place, prominent figures on the left in the UK - such as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn - have refused to make such a demand.

Ardila has a simple message for them: “Go to Venezuela and look at the conditions that these people are living under. Go to a hospital in Venezuela and go and get treatment there. Travel there, see what the conditions are like.

“Venezuela is a country that had one of, if not the best, infrastructure in South America, so we’re talking about something that has gone downhill to an incredible degree."

When asked if believed those defending Maduro were doing so because of a fondness for the country's traditionally socialist economic policies, Ardila says: “They should take a look at see what reality is like when a person for example has cancer, has HIV and he has for many years been able to get the drugs in a certain place close to his home.

“Now he has to travel hundreds of kilometres, go into Colombia to get any treatment. That makes life a little difficult - very, very difficult.”

He adds: “They have mismanaged the country, they have stolen enormous amounts of wealth, you have a group of military that are becoming very wealthy, that’s the way the system works and that supports the regime.”

Venezuela has been gripped by political crisis since January, when the National Assembly ruled Maduro’s victory in the 2018 election was invalid.

The body’s leader, Juan Guaido, was declared the new president, but despite backing from the vast majority of South America, the USA and the UK, Maduro was able to retain the loyalty of the army and cling on to power.

Crucially for the regime, it still has the support of Russia and China.

As well as giving financial aid, the UK is also providing expertise on the ground to help the Colombians deal with the crisis.

“These are conditions that have not been seen in the continent, in the Americas, ever. It’s something we have never experienced and we have very little knowledge about,” the ambassador says, adding: “The UK is helping us enormously.”

Announcing the aid, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said: “Colombia has shown tremendous generosity in helping the citizens of its neighbour Venezuela.

“This package will help support the region as it copes with providing help for Venezuelans forced to flee their homes. And it will also help foster trading partners of the future for the UK.”

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Corbyn allies join protest at Bank of England demanding transfer of gold to Maduro regime
By: James Warrington & Julian Harris - City AM News
RE: http://www.cityam.com/272931/corbyn-...nding-transfer

Two of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's most prominent allies joined a protest outside the Bank of England today, demanding that it release over £1bn worth of gold to the regime of Venezuela’s socialist strongman Nicolas Maduro.

Members of Maduro's regime have laid claim to the country's gold reserves held at the Bank.

Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and Labour MP Chris Williamson said the Bank was guilty of “theft”, after it reportedly refused to transfer gold to a regime accused of widespread vote-rigging, human rights abuses and violence against political opponents.

“The Bank of England has got involved in what I’d call a theft basically… but I’m not surprised, the Bank of England was never filled with lefties,” Livingstone told City A.M.


Speaking alongside him on Threadneedle Street, Williamson – MP for Derby North – added: “I think the Bank is acting, in my opinion, illegally and this amounts to state theft.”

Most European and South American states, alongside the US and Australia, recognise opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president, after Maduro refused to call fresh elections.

Venezuelans have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest against Maduro, triggering clashes with National Guard security forces. A number of protesters have been killed, with hundreds detained according to the UN.

Labour leader Corbyn – who Maduro once called a “great friend of Venezuela” – has criticised “outside interference” in the country, prompting criticism from some of his own MPs.

However, arch-Corbyn supporter Williamson said yesterday: “There’s undoubtedly a crisis in Venezuela at the moment, but that’s not going to be helped by seizing the nation’s assets in this way.

“There’s no place for the Bank of England to be intervening in a partisan way.”

Livingstone, who is no longer a member of the Labour party, added: “Maduro is the elected president. He is in control of Venezuela’s resources. It’s outrageous for the Bank of England to be interfering in another country.

“The Bank of England has never been about Britain’s interests. It’s about the international financial sector... You look at the history of Britain since the Second World War even under Labour governments, the Bank of England and the City of London are just broadly involved in making vast profits for themselves.”

Venezuela is understood to hold around £1.2bn worth of gold at the Bank of England. Opposition figures say the Maduro regime sold tonnes of gold last year without the approval of the National Assembly.

Conservative MP Crispin Blunt told City A.M.: “It’s shameful, though not surprising, that these deluded left-wingers are trying to make life easier for the despicable Maduro.”

Maduro, who succeeded Hugo Chavez in 2013, has driven the once oil-rich state to economic ruin, prompting millions of Venezuelans to flee the country amid hyperinflation and food shortages.