In the next few days or weeks, something will happen in Venezuela. One possibility is Donald Trump’s withdrawal and demobilization of troops in the Caribbean. In this case, Nicolas Maduro will emerge victorious and strong. I would say that the greatest world power “defeated” it. The President of the United States will emerge with the reputation of being a paper tiger or a “taco” (“Trump always chickens out” or “Trump is always yellow”). What is strange is that the North American leader himself put himself in this position. After all, the vast majority of the population is against military adventure in South America.
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The second possibility includes some military action without the ultimate goal being regime change. This is close to what Trump did in Syria in his first term after accusing Bashar al-Assad of using chemical weapons. That is, bombing some fields and selling them as a victory. However, Maduro will claim to have defeated the Americans.
The third alternative is to carry out a rapid special forces operation to arrest or even kill Maduro. This would be a risky move, like what happened in Panama in the 1980s against Noriega. The fourth alternative is also to go after Maduro, but with greater military force. The risks will also be enormous.
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The fifth possibility aims to convince Maduro to go into exile, while carrying out an internal transition process. There is no indication yet that the Venezuelan dictator will accept this. Finally, a scam can occur. No matter what happens, Brazil must be prepared. Venezuela is not as far away as Gaza or Ukraine.
Gaza – Speaking of Gaza, nothing has changed since the ceasefire. There is still no foreign military force to secure the region, nor an independent authority. Israel still controls most of the territory and the rest is in the hands of Hamas, which has not disarmed. In an interview with me, the leader of the opposition in Israel, Naftali Bennett, said that from his point of view there will be no peace in Gaza as long as Hamas is armed.
GloboNews Internacional conducted a long interview with Naftali Bennett, former Prime Minister of Israel and current leader of the opposition to Netanyahu. We talk about the current prime minister, settler violence in the West Bank, accusations of genocide in Gaza, the possibility of peace between Israel and Lebanon, the future of the Iranian regime and relations with Lula’s government. The full transcript can be viewed on GloboPlay or on the GloboNews YouTube page.
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