During the first presidency of United States President Donald Trump, the possibility of a United States-led invasion of Venezuela was discussed. [1]
During the first presidency of United States President Donald Trump, the possibility of a United States-led invasion of Venezuela was discussed. [1]
Within the framework of the crisis in Venezuela, an intervention was raised in 2017 to Donald Trump's advisors, including US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson and the national security advisor, H. R. McMaster (who left the Trump administration from that moment on) and later to several presidents of Latin American countries, among those, Juan Manuel Santos. [1] On both occasions, everyone present asked President Trump not to proceed with the plan. [1] During the Venezuelan presidential crisis the possibility of intervene in Venezuela, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Kimberly Breier declared that:
Although our policy is based on a peaceful transition, we have made it very clear that all options are on the table. [2]
In May 2020, Trump said in a conversation with the television network Fox News that "If we ever did anything with Venezuela", in that case "it would be called invasion ", explaining: "if I wanted to go into Venezuela I wouldn't make a secret about it", and "I wouldn't send a small, little group, no, no, no. It would be called an army." [3] In June 2020 John Bolton, National Security advisor at the time, published in a book that Trump said that invading Venezuela would be "cool" because It is "really part of the United States". [4]
In May 2023 Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, declared that Trump had made a proposal to then-president Iván Duque to invade Venezuela through Colombia, but that his advisors had stopped him. [5]
In June 2023, Trump declared at a press conference in North Carolina: [6]
When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over, we would have gotten all that oil.
Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego is a Colombian politician who is the 34th and current president of Colombia since 2022. Upon inauguration, he became the first left-wing president in the recent history of Colombia.
Colombia–Venezuela relations refers to the diplomatic relations between the South American neighboring countries of Colombia and Venezuela. The relationship has developed since the early 16th century, when Spanish colonizers created the Province of Santa Marta and the Province of New Andalucia. The countries share a history of achieving their independence under Simón Bolívar and becoming one nation—the Gran Colombia—which dissolved in the 19th century. Since then, the overall relationship between the two countries has oscillated between cooperation and bilateral struggle.
Democratic Centre is a conservative political party in Colombia founded in 2013 by Álvaro Uribe, former President of Colombia, former Vice President Francisco Santos Calderón and former Minister of Finance and Public Credit Óscar Iván Zuluaga. It is a self-described party of the centre, although in opinion groups it is often considered right-wing.
Presidential elections were held in Colombia on 27 May 2018. As no candidate received a majority of the vote, the second round of voting was held on 17 June. Incumbent president Juan Manuel Santos was ineligible to seek a third term. Iván Duque, a senator, defeated Gustavo Petro, former mayor of Bogotá, in the second round. Duque's victory made him one of the youngest individuals elected to the presidency, aged 42. His running mate, Marta Lucía Ramírez, was the first woman elected to the vice presidency in Colombian history.
Iván Duque Márquez is a Colombian politician and lawyer who served as the president of Colombia from 2018 to 2022. He was elected as the candidate from the Democratic Centre Party in the 2018 Colombian presidential election. Backed by his mentor, former president and powerful senator Álvaro Uribe, he was elected despite having been relatively unknown a year before the election. He ran on a platform that included opposing Juan Manuel Santos' peace agreement with the FARC guerrilla group. After Duque's term came to an end, he was succeeded by Gustavo Petro on 7 August 2022, after Petro won the runoff round in the 2022 Colombian presidential election.
Francia Elena Márquez Mina is a Colombian human-rights and environmental activist and lawyer, who is the 13th and current Vice President of Colombia. She was born in Yolombó, a village in the Suarez municipality in Cauca Department. She first became an activist at 13, when construction of a dam threatened her community. On taking office, she became the first Afro-Colombian vice president in the country's history. She is also the second woman to hold the post, after Marta Lucía Ramírez. In August 2020, Márquez announced her candidacy in the 2022 Colombian presidential election and sought the nomination for the Historic Pact for Colombia coalition. She was later chosen by the coalition's nominee, Gustavo Petro, to be his running mate. In 2023 she was also appointed as Minister for Equality and Equity.
Juan Gerardo Antonio Guaidó Márquez is a Venezuelan opposition politician. He belonged to the social-democratic party Popular Will, and was a federal deputy to the National Assembly representing the state of Vargas.
The Venezuelan presidential crisis was a political crisis concerning the leadership and the legitimate president of Venezuela between 2019 and 2023, with the nation and the world divided in support for Nicolás Maduro or Juan Guaidó.
During the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, AP News reported that "familiar geopolitical sides" had formed, with allies Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Cuba supporting Maduro, and the US, Canada, and most of Western Europe supporting Juan Guaidó as interim president. Amid widespread condemnation, President Maduro was sworn in on 10 January 2019, and the President of the National Assembly, Guaidó, was declared the interim President by that body on 23 January 2019. Intervention by the United States in Venezuela was criticized by allies of Nicolás Maduro and political figures from the left spectrum; Maduro's government stated that the crisis was a "coup d'état led by the United States to topple him and control the country's oil reserves." Guaidó denied the coup allegations, saying peaceful volunteers backed his movement.
Operation Gideon was an unsuccessful attempt by the Active Coalition of the Venezuelan International Reserve, Venezuelan dissidents, and a private security firm, Jordan Goudreau's Silvercorp USA, to infiltrate Venezuela by sea and remove Nicolás Maduro from power. The plan executed from 3 to 4 May 2020 was for expatriate Venezuelan former military personnel living in Colombia to enter the country by boat at Macuto, take control of an airfield, capture Maduro and other high-level figures in his administration, and expel them from the country.
Presidential elections were held in Colombia on 29 May 2022, with a runoff on 19 June 2022 as no candidate obtained at least 50% in the first round of voting. Iván Duque, who was elected president in 2018, was ineligible to run due to term limits. Gustavo Petro, a senator, former Mayor of Bogota, and runner-up in the 2018 election, defeated Rodolfo Hernández Suárez, former mayor of Bucaramanga, in the runoff election. Petro's victory made him the first left-wing candidate to be elected president of Colombia, and his running mate, Francia Márquez, is the first Afro-Colombian elected to the vice-presidency, as well as the second female vice-president overall.
Rodolfo Hernández Suárez was a Colombian politician, civil engineer, and businessman who served as a senator of Colombia from July to October 2022. He was mayor of Bucaramanga from 2016 until his resignation in 2019. As the nominee for the League of Anti-Corruption Governors (LIGA) coalition, Hernández placed second in the first round of the 2022 Colombian presidential election, and he was ultimately defeated by Gustavo Petro in the second round run-off election. Hernández briefly served in a senate seat offered to the runner-up in a presidential election and took office on 20 July and resigned in October that same year.
Verónica del Socorro Alcocer García is a Colombian philanthropist and the current First Lady of Colombia since 2022, as the third wife of President Gustavo Petro.
Gustavo Petro assumed office as President of Colombia on August 7, 2022. The President has the power to nominate members of his Cabinet at his own discretion, in accordance with the Constitution of Colombia.
Álvaro Leyva Durán is a Colombian lawyer, economist, politician, human rights defender and diplomat. He has been the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Colombia in the government of Gustavo Petro since 7 August 2022. On 7 February 2024, he was suspended from his ministerial position for three months over an investigation into potential violations of procurement laws.
Soy Porque Somos is a Colombian left-wing political party of Afro-Colombian origin founded on 21 July 2021. It is one of the movements that make up the Historic Pact, a political coalition that led Gustavo Petro to the presidency. The Vice President of Colombia Francia Márquez is the founder and leader of the movement.
Gustavo Petro's term as the 34th president of Colombia began with his inauguration on 7 August 2022. Petro, a leftist leader from Córdoba who previously served as mayor of Bogotá, took office after his victory in the 2022 presidential election over the self-proclaimed "anti-corruption leader" Rodolfo Hernández. Upon his inauguration, he became the first left-wing president in the recent history of Colombia. Petro took office amid the political shadow of his predecessor, an economic crisis and increased political polarization.
The 2022 presidential campaign of Gustavo Petro In 2021, Petro declared that he would be running in the 2022 elections. In September 2021, Petro announced that he would retire from politics if his campaign were not to succeed, stating that he does not intend to be an "eternal candidate". Petro's campaign platform included promoting green energy over fossil fuels and a decrease in economic inequality. He has promised to focus on climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause it by ending fossil fuel exploration in Colombia. He also pledged to raise taxes on the wealthiest 4,000 Colombians and said that neoliberalism would ultimately "destroy the country". Petro also announced that he would be open to having president Iván Duque stand trial for police brutality committed during the 2021 Colombian protests. Furthermore, he promised to establish the ministry of equality. Following his victory in the Historic Pact primary, Petro selected Afro-Colombian Human Rights and environmental activist and recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize, Francia Márquez, to be his running mate.
The 2018 presidential campaign of Gustavo Petro in 2018, Gustavo Petro was again a presidential candidate, this time getting the second best result in voting counting in the first round on 27 May, and advanced to the second round. His campaign was run by publicists Ángel Beccassino, Alberto Cienfuegos and Luis Fernando Pardo. A lawsuit was filed by citizens against Iván Duque, Petro's right-wing opponent, alleging bribery and fraud. The news chain Wradio made the lawsuit public on 11 July, which was presented to the CNE. The state of the lawsuit will be defined by the Magistrado Alberto Yepes.