Months into a pressure campaign that has seen the US military move thousands of troops and a carrier strike group into the Caribbean and President Donald Trump issue repeated threats against Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the Trump administration is working on day-after plans in the event Maduro is ousted from power, according to two senior administration officials and another source familiar with the discussions, CNN reports.
The plans are being quietly drafted and closely held at the White House.
They include multiple options for what US action could look like to fill the power vacuum and stabilize the country if Maduro voluntarily leaves as part of a negotiated departure or is forced into leaving after US strikes on targets inside Venezuela or other direct action, the sources said.
Publicly, officials have said that the goal of the military buildup in the Caribbean and the drug boat strikes is to drive down the flow of drugs into the US, but the internal planning is a clear signal of Trump’s consideration of forcing out Maduro, which administration officials have privately acknowledged.
CNN has reported that Trump has not made a decision as to how he will resolve the standoff, and there are multiple factions within the administration with sharply contrasting views on potential military or covert action to remove Maduro. While Trump has repeatedly threatened an escalation, including land strikes, two senior administration officials said there was no appetite for ramped up US engagement in the country.
Trump spoke by phone with Maduro late last month, just days before the US designation of Maduro and his government allies as members of a foreign terrorist organization went into effect.
A senior White House official said that while the call was not necessarily contentious, the president did give something of an ultimatum to the dictator, telling him that it was in Maduro’s best interest to leave the country and that Trump intended to keep “blowing up” boats.
In an interview with Politico published on Tuesday, Trump said he didn’t want to say how far he’d go to oust Maduro but added that “his days are numbered.”
Trump has refused to rule out directly participating in regime change, and the planning by those at the White House Council preserves his options.
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