How Venezuela's Maduro Duped Trump

According to this report, Trump's people were conned by Venezuelan Defense minister Paduro, who entered into a conspiracy with them to overthrow the Maduro regime, but stepped aside when the coup was attempted, resulting in a humiliating fiasco for Trump.

FRN, May 5, 2019: According to confidential information obtained by the Spanish edition of ABC, the regime change plan arose from an agreement between US National Security Advisor John Bolton and Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino , which was concluded during several telephone conversations held in recent months. Padrino, and along with him, some other ministers and generals had to sign onto the agreement with the U.S president-appointed President Juan Guaido of the plan drawn up by opponents of Nicolas Maduro. These documents contained a “road map”, according to which a coup would end with the election of the head of Venezuela “30 days after the Chavista regime surrendered and recognized Guaido as the person legally acting as head of the Republic.” In parallel, the Supreme Court of Venezuela represented by its chairman, Michel Moreno , was to declare illegal the Constituent Assembly (National Constitutional Assembly), the branch of the legislative power created and controlled by Nicolas Maduro. And “with the observance of the necessary legal procedures and formalities to the head of the National Guard, General Ivan Rafael Hernandez Dala was charged with the duty to inform Maduro that he had only two options in the current situation: either he would leave the country, fleeing to Cuba, or be arrested at the request of the court. After that, a “top secret document from the depths of American intelligence” was supposed to appear on the scene, that in Venezuela there are between 20 and 25 thousand armed Cuban mercenaries supporting Maduro and keeping the whole Bolivarian Republic in fear ” (the armed forces of which have 235 thousand active military and 200 thousand more – reservists – author’s note.) Thus, by joint efforts of the USA and the Venezuelan military “the country would have been spared by the U.S appointed president of the dictator Maduro and from his support by battalions of soldiers of fortune from Cuba” . But something went wrong. Maduro did not flee to Cuba, Padrino suddenly changed his mind about becoming the “godfather of the Venezuelan revolution” (by the way, Padrino translated from Spanish means “godfather”), and the vast majority of Venezuelan generals did not get in touch at the time appointed by the Americans. (There is an interesting moment during Guaido’s call to arms, with the 14 soldiers behind him, when a cell-phone goes off and distracts him – maybe that was the call, ‘it’s not happening’ – J. Flores) Read more

Time for Trump to change his foreign policy advisers and abandon the attempt to rule Latin America by covert operations. Instead is required a new approach to relations with the other half of the Western hemisphere. The objective should be to stop the flood of Latinos to the North, not with a wall, but by helping make Latin America a better place for Latinos to live.