The situation in Venezuela is deteriorating. Throughout the day, protests have erupted. Supporters and opponents of socialist President Nicolas Maduro are once facing off after months of economic destitution that has left the beacon of 21stCentury Socialism an absolute hellhole. You’ve all read the reports. Medicals supplies are absent, hunger is rampant, and inflation is through the roof. No one is safe from economic blight, except Maduro. Venezuelans from all social classes have suffered. There’s footage of people eating out of trashcans. Zoo animals are being killed for food. Venezuelan children are now being forced into prostitution in order to eat. It’s a nightmare, but ‘onward comrades’ is the mantra of the current government, which has devolved into a de facto dictatorship.
Now, President Trump has threatened Venezuela’s ally, Cuba, with a new and aggressive embargo, demanding their security forces end military operations in the country (via Reuters):
If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019
....embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba. Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the United States would hit Cuba with sanctions and an embargo if it continued its military support for the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba,” Trump said on Twitter. “Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!”
Cuba has denied it has troops on the ground, though they’re as about as trustworthy as North Korea. There are definitely security forces protecting Maduro, which was discussed last February (via Fox News):
Venezuela’s disputed and embattled president, Nicolas Maduro, is so fearful of his own people that he has called on Cuban guards to serve as his security detail, a top U.S. military official said.
Navy Adm. Craig S. Faller, commander of U.S. Southern Command, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee … that Maduro, fearing for his own safety, has “completely surround[ed]” himself with Cuban security. “I think it’s a good sense of where the loyalty of the Venezuelan people are, that his immediate security force is made up of Cubans,” Faller told the committee.