US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has decoupled the US government from the Gideon operation, an attempt by a military invasion to try to evict Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power, although he has insisted that the Venezuelan president “must leave” .
“We have been very clear: Maduro must leave. This effort that we have seen in these stories of the last days has not been an American effort but we really believe that Maduro must leave,” said the head of US diplomacy, in an interview in Chris Stigall’s podcast.
Pompeo has stressed that Maduro has been “charged with drug trafficking” in the United States and has accused him of having caused “enormous chaos in Venezuela.” “What a calamity this socialism has brought to a nation that was once a rich country. We want to try to restore democracy for the Venezuelan people. It is truly important to them but it will also increase the security of the United States,” he argued.
According to the Maduro government’s version, “a group of mercenaries and terrorists” trained in Colombia with the support of the United States tried to enter Venezuela on the coast of Macuto, in the state of La Guaira, on Sunday, but they found the resistance of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB). At least eight died and about twenty, including two Americans, have been detained.
