The U.S. Is Moving Closer To Military Intervention In Venezuela
The U.S. moved closer to military intervention in Venezuela over the weekend as the U.S.-backed Venezuelan opposition clashed with President Nicolás Maduro’s forces in the sweltering city of Cúcuta on the Colombian border.
As a humanitarian mission, the U.S. aid effort was a failure. But the U.S. and opposition effort may have succeeded in its other mission: giving the U.S. an excuse for military intervention in Venezuela.
Under the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (commonly known as the Rio Treaty), which the U.S. and Colombia both signed, an attack against one nation is to be considered an attack against them all.
Invoking the treaty would give the U.S. an elegant way to intervene in Venezuela without a declaration of war, allowing the Trump administration to circumvent a Congress that’s not eager for another unending war abroad. That’s exactly what some U.S. lawmakers, such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a top advocate of intervention, were preparing for this week.
“Maduro Regime has fired into territory of Colombia,” Rubio tweeted Saturday. “Receiving reports of injuries after this attack on sovereign Colombian territory. The United States WILL help Colombia confront any aggression against them.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/us-military-intervention-venezuela_n_5c758dd3e4b08c4f5554dfc7
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