Guaido Had 'Clandestine Meetings' With Venezuela's Military, Security



Venezuela's self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido in an opinion article published by The New York Times on Wednesday said that the country's opposition has held secret talks with members of Venezuela’s security forces and offered them amnesty in exchange for abandoning President Nicolas Maduro.


"The transition will require support from key military contingents. We have had clandestine meetings with members of the armed forces and the security forces. We have offered amnesty to all those who are found not guilty of crimes against humanity", Guaido said. "The military’s withdrawal of support from Mr. Maduro is crucial to enabling a change in government, and the majority of those in service agree that the country’s recent travails are untenable".


However, Venezuela’s opposition does not support the military option to solve the country’spolitical crisis, self-declared interim president Juan Guaido’s representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), Gustavo Tarre, told Sputnik on Wednesday.


"No", Tarre said on Wednesday when asked whether he would support a US military option. "The problem is going to be solved by Venezuelans".

The opposition has been also in contact with Venezuelan diplomats in the United States who no longer recognize Nicolas Maduro as the country’s head of state, Gustavo Tarre told Sputnik.







We hear that President Nicolás Maduro has the support of the armed forces.  But does he really? 
Remember the Kremlin back in 1991?  They ordered the armed forces to put down the Yeltsin movement, but they didn't.  In other words, soldiers were not willing to fight their own people to support a corrupt and unpopular regime.
I see the same thing happening down in Venezuela.
First, Maduro has not sent a task force to arrest interim president Juan Guaido, as we see in news reports:  
More than 700 opponents of President Nicolas Maduro have been arrested during the latest push by Venezuela's opposition to oust the socialist leader.
But there's one anti-government activist security forces notably haven't touched: Juan Guaido, the lawmaker who declared himself interim president in a direct challenge to Maduro's rule.

So why not?  Why not deliver the knockout punch and put your opponent in jail?
I think that Maduro knows that such a move would provoke one of these three reactions, or all of them at once:
1. The armed forces will not arrest the man supported by the people in the streets.
2. Maduro is afraid that he will be arrested.
3. Best of all, it could bring about a military intervention or some kind of regional force made up of U.S. Marines, Brazilian troops, and others.
Does Maduro really have the armed forces on his side?  He probably has the Cubans, but not much more.


Maduro attempt to expand pro-regime paramilitary gangs is another sign that he has lost confidence in the support of National Guard & military.

Remember, the guardsmen & soldiers & their families are also suffering from the #Venezuela economic crisis.https://t.co/U9m6DQchcS
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) January 29, 2019