[Edited Message Follows] Chris writes: "Trump wants to deport Venezuelan immigrants back to Venezuela. This requires talking to the Maduro government."
But that is not the case. The Trump administration could have opted to start by sending Venezuelan immigrants to Guantanamo (as it has already started doing https://www.aporrea.org/ddhh/n401079.html ) or to El Salvador which has offered to accept them. It also had no reason to send its first high-profile official to shake hands with a smiling Maduro in Venezuela - a pretty clear signal particularly when the Trump administration has so far not met with opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez and refers to him as merely "rightful" president. And yet it deliberately chose to do both - a pretty clear signal. Chris writes: "However, Trump still wants to overthrow that government. The sanctions continue. Their aim is to cause extreme hardship for the people, resulting in loss of support for the government." If by this Chris means Trump would prefer a president more aligned with his politics that Maduro, then the same applies for Trump towards Lula, Petro and any other non-far right president in the region. It is a basic truism: any government prefers to cooperate with those it views as political allies. But that is not always possible. This does not mean that the only alternative left is then to "overthrow" a government. What matters is whether the government can obtain what it wants even if the other government is not to its ideological liking. So far Trump has got everything he wants from Maduro, and given nothing in return except for lend him certain legitimacy by Grenell publicly meeting with Maduro As for the sanctions, the last elections showed both that Maduro has already lost majority support but that it can maintain its rule through force and coercion. Trump has clearly accepted this, along with distancing himself from the existing Venezuelan opposition. Trump maintains the sanctions not to further undermine Maduro, but because they serve the same role as he sees for the tariffs and sanctions he has slapped elsewhere: as a tool to obtain what he wants. Given the US currently gets oil at basically no cost from Venezuela, Trump has not reimposed sanctions that have been lifted but also has no need to further lift them. The status quo perfectly suits him (and provides a political gift to Maduro who can blame everything on the sanctions while it sells cheap oil to the US). Of course, that may change down the line, but there are no concrete actions to indicate a mixed policy towards Maduro - notwithstanding the recent stunt with a plane that was actually seized last year. Rubio might be going around saying all sorts of things, but that is all it is: the words of Rubio. These words are not backed with any action. Pretending this is mixed signals is like finding the comments of someone in the Biden administration criticising Israel or calling for a ceasefire amid the genocide in Gaza and pretending there were "mixed signals" from Biden. The signals from the Maduro government are also not "mixed": having turned its back on the Venezuela people, the Maduro government desperate seeks a rapprochement with US imperialism which in return for demonstrating it is the best possible defender of its interests in Venezuela it seeks normalisation of relations. It is thrilled that Trump is open to this idea and spends all its time now publicly explaining how the opposition has stolen USAID money and has smuggled Venezuelans into the US in order to cozy up to Trump. In this, the government and opposition are the same: both seek the blessing and support of the US rather than seek to mobilise and organise the people at home in order to hold onto/take power. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#35181): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/35181 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/111101469/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
