A new round of protests pitted Venezuelan civilians against unofficial security forces loyal to strongman Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, drawing fresh warnings from U.S. officials.
“All eyes are on you today,” President Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, tweeted in a message directed at Venezuelan defense minister Vladimir Padrino. “Hold the Venezuelan military to its Constitutional responsibility to protect innocent civilians who are peacefully demonstrating. Do not let the Cubans or the ‘colectivos’ inflict violence against Venezuelan patriots.”
Juan Guaido, the top opposition lawmaker who Trump and other Western democracies recognized as the legitimate interim president in January, is rallying supporters in Caracas for what he hopes will be “the greatest escalation of pressure we have seen in our history.”
Maduro’s response to the protests could bolster the argument for more aggressive international tactics to oust the regime.
“The standard procedure #MaduroRegime uses is first tear gas from National Guard or Police. If that doesn’t stop protestors they send in armed ‘colectivos’ to kill,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote in a series of tweets. “So far no indications military authorities in #Venezuela willing to do anything to carry out their constitutional duty to protect unarmed civilians.”
Those observations could bolster arguments by Guaido’s international supporters that regional powers have a responsibility to protect the Venezuelan people from the regime.
Rubio is urging Trump to label the Maduro regime a foreign terrorist organization. And U.S. officials plan to discuss the issue of the responsibility to protect — a United Nations doctrine developed in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide — at the Organization of American States.
“There is some action as the next few days that will tell where we’re going in that regards,” a senior administration official told reporters Friday evening. “We look forward to working with our partners in these institutions — primarily the OAS in this regard, this is primarily a regional issue — in looking at what our joint responsibilities are in trying to protect the people of Venezuela.”
