The Trump administration could be required to report to Congress on arms sales and military exercises between Russia and its Latin American allies, including Venezuela, under a requirement newly approved by a key congressional panel.
The amendment to this year’s defense policy bill, led by Texas senator Ted Cruz, requires a comprehensive assessment of security cooperation between Russia and Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba, in some cases going back to 2007. Its committee-level passage comes amid continued economic and humanitarian turmoil in Venezuela under Nicolas Maduro, who claimed victory Sunday in what the Trump administration has condemned as a sham election.
“Maduro has doubled down on the tactics of his mentor Hugo Chavez, nationalizing businesses, arresting dissidents, and manipulating rolling food shortages by parceling out food to supporters and even—in the recent election—to those who could show they voted for him,” said Cruz. “The state would have collapsed long ago if it did not get outside support from countries like Cuba and Russia. Americans should have a full understanding of the depth of that cooperation to understand who is behind the regime forces oppressing the people of Venezuela.”
Russia is a top backer of the Venezuelan regime, which over the course of the 2000s became its most prominent arms client in the region. The Kremlin has also spread its tentacles to Nicaragua and Cuba in what is seen as a strategic effort to fortify an anti-American network in the U.S.’s backyard. Now lawmakers are calling for an account of Russia’s intelligence and military activities in all three countries. “Having this information will enable the United States to begin crafting policies that respond to the actual conditions in the Western Hemisphere,” said a senior GOP congressional aide.
Cruz’s amendment requests, within six months of the bill’s enactment: an assessment of million-dollar-plus Russian weapons or technology provided to or purchased by each country, a description of any military or intelligence infrastructure developed by Russia in each country, and information about any joint training exercises as well as any security cooperation agreements between Russia and each country.
It also requires an assessment of security cooperation between Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela themselves. “There are concerns as much about that block of countries, and how they’re conducting security cooperation, as there are about their alliances with our broader enemies,” said the aide.
Ana Quintana, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said the fate of Venezuela’s weapons is especially disconcerting considering the crumbling state of the regime and its proximity to U.S.-allied countries.
“Colombia right now is going through an incredibly difficult period in terms of trying to demobilize the FARC terrorist group,” she said. “You now have about 7,000 former FARC terrorists who the Colombian government is trying to reintegrate into society. Many of them are going to go back into criminality, many of them could potentially go back into terrorism. And they now have right on their border this essentially failed state with a plethora of foreign weapons.”
The nature of transnational criminal networks is such that the Russian-provided systems could easily fall into the hands of a range of malign actors, she added. “It could be the Colombians, it could be FARC terrorists that decide to not demobilize, it could be Hezbollah sympathizers or operators, it could be anybody.”
She described the review demanded by Cruz’s amendment as long overdue. “Nothing unclassified has ever been fully pieced together or itemized as to the extent of what has been purchased,” she says. The report will be unclassified with the option of a classified annex.
The Trump administration has taken a tough approach toward the Venezuelan regime. On Monday, the day after Maduro’s so-called re-election, President Donald Trump approved fresh sanctions. Maduro then expelled two American diplomats, a move that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told lawmakers Wednesday would be met with reciprocal action or more.
