Venezuela is descending into a deepening crisis that could end in violence, including the possibility of a coup against that country’s embattled leftist government, senior U.S. intelligence officials said Friday.
(FOX)- There is a “potential for real violence,” one of two officials said in a briefing with a small group of reporters. “It’s hard for me to see how this ends easily.”
The officials, who have extensive experience in the region, said that they and others in the intelligence community increasingly believe that President Nicolás Maduro could be removed from office, either in a “palace coup” led by associates close to him or in a military uprising. They said that the possibility of an overthrow or street violence is of concern to American officials, who want to avoid anarchy in an oil-rich country just a three-hour flight from Miami.
“The goal is to mitigate the crisis that they’re experiencing,” said the official. “It’s in the United States’ interest that Venezuela not bottom out.”
He said, however, that Washington’s options are limited because of Mr. Maduro’s antipathy toward the U.S., which he frequently blames for orchestrating “an economic war” designed to destabilize his government.
“The more the United States intervenes,” he said, “the more we’re the problem.”