Q24N — Last week, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro warned that if the United States continues to interfere with Venezuela, he will respond by “liberating” Puerto Rico.
The message seemed designed to reach Washington as one administration prepares to hand the baton to the next
Notwithstanding the fact that a majority of Puerto Ricans voted in favor of becoming a state in a nonbinding referendum, or that the last time a Venezuelan army ventured abroad was in the Independence Wars over two hundred years ago, Maduro said he was ready to send troops as a message to President-elect Donald Trump, just 10 days before his inauguration.
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Analysts in Venezuela and observers in Latin America are familiar with
This kind of language is a familiar one to analylists in Venezuela, who interpret it as a sign of a potentially contentious relationship between the United States and Venezuela in the Trump 2.0 administration.
As CNN reports, the relationship will probably revolve around three crucial issues: oil, migration, and ideology. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world and supplies crude oil to the US and is the origin point of more than eight million Venezuelans who have fled the country under Maduro’s regime.
Puerto Rico’s governor, Jenniffer Gonzalez, quickly denounced Maduro’s words as “not only a blatant threat of military aggression against the US, but also an incitement against peace and stability in our region.”
However, political consultant aligned with the Maduro government, Indira Urbaneja, said it was “more a provocation than anything else.”
“We still have a very delicate political situation requiring (Maduro’s) whole attention. I think Maduro’s priority will be to overcome internal challenges; it’s not like anyone is seriously planning to invade Puerto Rico,” Urbaneja told CNN
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