Report: US in Talks for Long-Term Military Presence in Venezuela
The Facts
- The Trump administration is in talks with Venezuela's interim government on a status of force agreement that would secure long-term U.S. military presence in the country, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
- Caracas and Washington carried out a joint airstrike in June, killing a Tren de Aragua leader. Reports suggest they partnered once again last week to launch an attack on a camp belonging to Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) in the Venezuelan state of Apure.
- This comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has consistently suggested Venezuela should become the 51st U.S. state since the seizure of Nicolás Maduro in January. On Monday, Trump referred to the U.S. "conquest of Venezuela" in what he described as a one-day war.
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The Spin
Government-critical narrative
The Trump administration propped up an unelected government to carve up a nation's resources and expand the U.S. military foothold in the Western Hemisphere in a striking instance of old-fashioned colonialism. Venezuelans will get worse conditions and deeper corruption, while the U.S.' reputation sinks across the hemisphere. Washington's goal should have always been to restore constitutional rule in Venezuela to produce a legitimate partner — not advance the interests of a few insiders.
Pro-government narrative
If reports are accurate, a status of forces agreement with Venezuela will bring rules and oversight to a partnership that is already dismantling cartel and guerrilla networks. Deeper military cooperation is the surest way to professionalize Venezuela's forces, break its ties to organized crime and keep Moscow and Beijing out. Abandoning that leverage would just hand the Western Hemisphere back to narco-terrorists.
