On December 11, President and CEO of the Inter-American Dialogue Rebecca Bill Chavez spoke with BBC News, where she discussed the consequences of seizing U.S. oil tankers off the Venezuelan coast.
Comments from Chavez:
“It [the tanker seizure] is a significant escalation. Does this signal that maybe Trump understands that a military intervention is not in the U.S. interest? Is it an alternative to that, or is it a step that’s going to ultimately lead to a military intervention?”
“It’s important to note that the maximum pressure sanctions campaign didn’t work. One of the major geopolitical consequences was that it pushed Venezuela more into the orbit of Russia and China.”
“Maria Corina Machado certainly deserves this. One of my hopes is that [the Nobel Peace Prize] gets the international community’s attention again to Venezuela, because ultimately any solution is going to require the support of the international community.”
“I understand the desire for a military solution, but it would not be easy. It would not be quick. It could lead to a prolonged conflict involving U.S. troops, and ultimately a situation where the U.S. is engaged in another nation-building exercise.”
“At first, we thought of this as a counter-narcotics operation. But given the size of the U.S. deployment in the Caribbean, that’s not what you use to fight narcotics.”
