The United States targeted Venezuela's government with new sanctions on Monday and called on allies to freeze the assets of its state-owned oil company PDVSA after deadly violence blocked aid from reaching the crisis-hit country during the weekend.

The US also took its pressure campaign to the United Nations Security Council, asking that body to discuss the situation in Venezuela, diplomats said.

The US Treasury Department's sanctions were imposed on four Venezuelan state governors allied with the government of embattled President Nicolas Maduro, blocking any assets they control in the US.

The new sanctions were announced in Bogota as US Vice President Mike Pence and opposition leader Juan Guaido met with members of the Lima Group, a bloc of nations from Argentina to Canada dedicated to find a resolution in the Venezuelan crisis.

"We are with you 100 percent," Pence said ahead of the start of the meeting.

"I want to assure you, President Guaido, the tragic events of this past weekend have only steeled the resolve of the United States to stand with you."

"We will keep standing until your 'libertad' is restored."

Pence also said the US was readying an additional $56m in aid, and he called on Latin American allies to increase pressure on Maduro's government.

"We call on all Lima Group nations to immediately freeze the assets of PDVSA. Secondly, transfer ownership of Venezuelan assets in your country from Maduro's henchmen to President Guaido's government," Pence said, according to prepared remarks.

He also called on the countries to restrict visas for officials close to Maduro and to vote to recognise the representative of Juan Guaido, Venezuela's self-declared interim president, at the Inter-American Development Bank.

"In the days ahead ... the United States will announce even stronger sanctions on the regime's corrupt financial networks," Pence added.

"We will work with all of you to find every last dollar that they stole and work to return it to Venezuela."

Meanwhile Maduro tweeted that Venezuela will sort its own issues, without "the empire and its lackeys".

China, who supports Maduro, said on Monday that it opposes "intervention by external forces in the international affairs of Venezuela".

China "also opposes using the so-called humanitarian aid to serve political ends and stir up instability and even turmoil in Venezuela and its neighbourhood, which is not in the interests of any party," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang added.

Violent clashes with security forces over the US-backed opposition's attempt on Saturday to take aid into Venezuela left almost 300 wounded and at least three protesters dead near the Brazilian border.

"The illegitimate Maduro regime's attempts to blockade international aid intended for the Venezuelan people are shameful," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement announcing the sanctions.

"Treasury is targeting four state governors aligned with former President Maduro for standing in the way of severely needed humanitarian assistance and prolonging the suffering of the Venezuelan people," he added.

The Trump administration last month slapped sanctions on state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, known as PDVSA, to cut Maduro off from his government's main source of revenues.

The group has previously asked the US to impose an oil embargo on Venezuela, a Peruvian diplomatic source said.

The Chilean delegation is expected to push to maintain dialogue with Maduro but also to back commercial sanctions and further blocking of Venezuela's participation in international groups, Chilean media reported.

Brazil's vice president has previously insisted that there is no military solution to the crisis.</s>(CNN) The US military has flown an increased number of reconnaissance flights in international airspace off the coast of Venezuela during the last several days to gather classified intelligence about the embattled government of President Nicholas Maduro, according to two US defense officials.

The officials would not detail which US military aircraft are being used, but the Navy and Air Force maintain several large fixed-wing aircraft capable of intercepting communications and monitoring the status of weaponry.

The officials noted that the effort is limited to whatever the aircraft can gather by staying in international airspace.

Several US military officials continue to emphasize there are no military options actively being considered for the Venezuela crisis. For now, the US military would only contemplate a response if US assets, personnel or the embassy were attacked.

Venezuela is in crisis as self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido battles Maduro for control.

Read More</s>ABC News(CARACAS, Venezuela) — Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the U.S. government of trying to fabricate a crisis to start a war in South America in his first interview with an American television network in years.

“Everything that the United States government has done has been doomed to failure,” Maduro told ABC News’ Tom Llamas in Spanish from the presidential palace in Caracas. “They are trying to fabricate a crisis to justify political escalation and a military intervention in Venezuela to bring a war to South America.”

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Colombia Monday morning to deliver a message from President Donald Trump to Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido: “We are with you 100 percent.” There, he announced that the U.S. will provide an additional $56 million in aid to Venezuelan citizens and that the U.S. Treasury Department would be imposing “stronger sanctions” on the Maduro regime’s “corrupt financial networks.”

Maduro said that the meeting in Bogota was “part of that politics to attempt to establish a parallel government in Venezuela.” He added that the U.S. “wants Venezuela’s oil” and is “willing to go to war for that oil.”

“The extremist Ku Klux Klan government that Donald Trump directs wants a war over oil, and more than just oil”, he said, describing Venezuela as a “pacifist, humble nation.”

Asked if he had a message for Trump, Maduro said he needs to “fix your policy over Venezuela.”

“Venezuela has the right to peace, Venezuela has legitimate institutions. I, as President of Venezuela, am prepared for a direct dialogue with your government and with you to look for, like the Americans that we are. We are South Americans, you are North Americans. To look for 21st century solutions not Cold War solutions. The Cold War should stay behind,” Maduro said.

“We cannot this war of are you a communist, are you anti-communist, inter-communist, anti-communist – that is not of this century. We are Democrats that believe in a new type of socialism and we have the right to the diversity of criterion and ideology. And so President Trump should always be ready to see Venezuela’s truth – the other side of the coin and rectify and start a new path,” Maduro continued.

“The path that got you here is the fractured path that Barack Obama left behind, President Trump. It’s a path of a coup d’etat, of an intervention – that is not of the 21st century – I say to you, rectify. You will always have in me someone that is prepared – with our differences between us – to extend my hand and talk about a peaceful dialogue,” he added.

Around 50 countries no longer recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s president and have announced that they view Guaido as the country’s legitimate leader.

When asked if he would allow opposition Venezuela leader Juan Guaido back into the country, Maduro said. “He can leave and come back and will have to see the face of justice because justice had prohibited him from him leaving the country.”

“He has to respect the laws,” Maduro said.

Last Thursday, Maduro closed Venezuela’s border to Brazil ahead of opposition plans to bring in humanitarian aid despite Guadio’s objection.

Maduro blocked a convoy carrying American humanitarian aid that arrived at the Colombia-Venezuela border earlier this month. He has blocked aid from entering the country for years.

Trump, Venezuela’s opposition and Guaido have put pressure on Maduro to let the aid in. Venezuela’s military has so far largely stood by the embattled president, who refuses to leave power.

Pence met with Guaido as well as Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez in Bogota Monday before he addressed the Lima Group on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.

“President Duque we are grateful for your stand for freedom,” Pence said. “President Guaido, we admire your courage and the courage of the other opposition leaders.”

Trump warned Venezuela’s military last week that standing by Maduro could make them “lose everything” and in a speech Monday to the country’s exiled community in South Florida, called Maduro “a Cuban puppet.”

Guadio also spoke from Bogota Thursday, saying the world saw the real Venezuela on Saturday during the violence that occurred as the opposition tried to force humanitarian aid into the country.

“And the world saw within hours on Saturday what Venezuela has lived with for years: the destruction of the production, the burning of food, the burning of medicine that could save lives,” Guaido said.

He added: “We must insist with the attention to the humanitarian emergency, to protect our people and of course we are in Bogota today thankful for the invitation that today formally incorporates into the Lima Group.”

Maduro said Thursday in televised comments that he was considering closing the Colombia border, saying the stockpiling of aid in Cucuta was a “provocation” and a cheap show by the opposition to undermine his government.

Dueling aid concerts took place over the weekend on either side of the Venezuelan border. Maduro announced that his administration would be hosting its own two-day concert at the Simón Bolívar International Bridge on Friday and Saturday after billionaire Richard Branson, a critic of the Maduro regime, announced that he would be sponsoring a Live Aid-style benefit concert in Cucuta.</s>Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro accuses US government of fabricating a crisis to start war in South America

The Venezuelan president sat down for his first American interview in years.

Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the U.S. government of trying to fabricate a crisis to start a war in South America in his first interview with an American television network in years.

“Everything that the United States government has done has been doomed to failure,” Maduro told ABC News’ Tom Llamas in Spanish from the presidential palace in Caracas. “They are trying to fabricate a crisis to justify political escalation and a military intervention in Venezuela to bring a war to South America.”

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Colombia Monday morning to deliver a message from President Donald Trump to Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido: “We are with you 100 percent.” There, he announced that the U.S. will provide an additional $56 million in aid to Venezuelan citizens and that the U.S. Treasury Department would be imposing “stronger sanctions” on the Maduro regime’s “corrupt financial networks.”

Maduro said that the meeting in Bogota was “part of the politics to attempt to establish a parallel government in Venezuela.” He added that the U.S. “wants Venezuela’s oil” and is “willing to go to war for that oil.”

“The extremist Ku Klux Klan government that Donald Trump directs wants a war over oil, and more than just oil,” he said, describing Venezuela as a “pacifist, humble nation.”

Asked if he had a message for Trump, Maduro said he needs to “fix your policy over Venezuela.”

“Venezuela has the right to peace, Venezuela has legitimate institutions. I, as President of Venezuela, am prepared for a direct dialogue with your government and with you to look for, like the Americans that we are. We are South Americans, you are North Americans. To look for 21st century solutions not Cold War solutions. The Cold War should stay behind,” Maduro said.

“We cannot have this war of are you a communist, are you anti-communist, inter-communist, anti-communist – that is not of this century. We are Democrats that believe in a new type of socialism and we have the right to the diversity of criterion and ideology. And so President Trump should always be ready to see Venezuela’s truth – the other side of the coin and rectify and start a new path,” Maduro continued.

“The path that got you here is the fractured path that Barack Obama left behind, President Trump. It’s a path of a coup d’etat, of an intervention – that is not of the 21st century – I say to you, rectify. You will always have in me someone that is prepared – with our differences between us – to extend my hand and talk about a peaceful dialogue,” he added.

Asked if he fears Trump, Maduro said he doesn’t fear him… but he does fear the men around him, including Pence (“man that does not know world politics, unaware of Latin American politics”), National Security Adviser John Bolton (“an extremist and expert of the Cold War”), Eliot Abrams (“a liar that trafficked coca, arms, drugs in Central America and the world and brought war to the United States”), and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (“a CIA agent that has an antiquated scheme of old intelligence from the Cold War”).

“I think these people surrounding President Trump are bad. And I think that at one point, President Trump will have to say stop , stop we have to see what happens with Venezuela, and change his politics,” Maduro said.

Around 50 countries no longer recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s president and have announced that they view Guaido as the country’s legitimate leader.

When asked if he would allow opposition Venezuela leader Juan Guaido back into the country, Maduro said. “He can leave and come back and will have to see the face of justice because justice had prohibited him from him leaving the country.”

“He has to respect the laws,” Maduro said.

When confronted with claims from the United Nations and human rights groups that estimate hundreds have died because of his administration, Maduro accused Llamas of lying “just like Trump.”

“No human rights organizations has made me responsible for any deaths. You are lying Thomas. Do not lie – you are just like Trump. You are just like Trump,” Maduro told Llamas, who responded that he had the U.N. report that includes the allegations that hundreds have died as a result of Maduro’s administration.

“Does it make me, Nicolas Maduro, responsible of assassinating people?” Maduro asked.

When Llamas reminded Maduro that it’s his government, Maduro again accused him of lying: “You have committed an error as a journalist.”

“What I can tell you is that in Venezuela that is free expression for political opposition mobilizations. They have groups that attack public forces and that is what we put up with in 2016. Groups of delinquents that have been tried and processed according to Venezuelan law. What I can also tell you is that in Venezuela there is full freedom of political expression, of opinion, free press. In Venezuela there is full freedom to hold public office,” Maduro said.

“In Venezuela there is a democracy with a lot of potential, with a lot of force. And it cannot be neglected and ignored that this constitution is the first constitution in the history of our country that was approved by referendum and has been full force and is in force today in Venezuela,” he added.

Maduro told Llamas not to believe critics who say he’s run out of chess moves, adding that the country “has all the economic capacity to get ahead and we will in this year, 2019.”

“Venezuela has a constitution that is defended by all its institutions. It is legitimate and powerful state. And Venezuela has extraordinary relations – we are the president of the Organization of Non-Aligned States that groups 120 countries. We are the president of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries this year. We have grand responsibilities around the world that we will continue to fulfill,” Maduro said.

“So that checkmate scheme, Mike Pence can believe that. Mike Pompeo can believe that. John Bolton and Elliott Abrams can believe that. But you should not believe that because you are a young man and knows that history will continue,” he added.

Last Thursday, Maduro closed Venezuela’s border to Brazil ahead of opposition plans to bring in humanitarian aid despite Guadio’s objection. At least a dozen people were injured and one woman was killed by authorities during clashes at the Brazilian border over the weekend, The Associated Press reported.

On Tuesday, Venezuelan officials said that the country was banning air and sea trips to and from three Dutch Caribbean Islands, AP reported. The region has been linked to efforts to undermine Maduro by sending aid to Venezuela, according to AP.

Maduro blocked a convoy carrying American humanitarian aid that arrived at the Colombia-Venezuela border earlier this month. He has blocked aid from entering the country for years.

Trump, Venezuela’s opposition and Guaido have put pressure on Maduro to let the aid in. Venezuela’s military has so far largely stood by the embattled president, who refuses to leave power.

Pence met with Guaido as well as Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez in Bogota Monday before he addressed the Lima Group on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.

“President Duque we are grateful for your stand for freedom,” Pence said. “President Guaido, we admire your courage and the courage of the other opposition leaders.”

Trump warned Venezuela’s military last week that standing by Maduro could make them “lose everything” and in a speech Monday to the country’s exiled community in South Florida, called Maduro “a Cuban puppet.”

Guadio also spoke from Bogota Thursday, saying the world saw the real Venezuela on Saturday during the violence that occurred as the opposition tried to force humanitarian aid into the country.

(MORE: Battle of the bands: Richard Branson, Nicolas Maduro to hold rival aid concerts on Venezuelan border this weekend)

 “And the world saw within hours on Saturday what Venezuela has lived with for years: the destruction of the production, the burning of food, the burning of medicine that could save lives,” Guaido said.

He added: “We must insist with the attention to the humanitarian emergency, to protect our people and of course we are in Bogota today thankful for the invitation that today formally incorporates into the Lima Group.”

Maduro said Thursday in televised comments that he was considering closing the Colombia border, saying the stockpiling of aid in Cucuta was a “provocation” and a cheap show by the opposition to undermine his government.

Dueling aid concerts took place over the weekend on either side of the Venezuelan border. Maduro announced that his administration would be hosting its own two-day concert at the Simón Bolívar International Bridge on Friday and Saturday after billionaire Richard Branson, a critic of the Maduro regime, announced that he would be sponsoring a Live Aid-style benefit concert in Cucuta.

ABC News’ Esther Castillejo, Conor Finnegan, Ben Gittleson, Rashid Haddou, Meredith McGraw, Davi Merchan, Kirit Radia and Bruno Roeber contributed to this report.</s>In the past few days, US reconnaissance aircraft have made an increased number of flights in international airspace off the coast of Venezuela in a bid to obtain classified information, the unnamed defence sources told CNN on Tuesday.

The sources did not detail which US spy planes were being used for the mission, but unconfirmed social media reports identified one of the aircraft as a USAF Boeing RC-135V.

READ MORE: 'People Worldwide Will Rise' to Defend Venezuela if US 'Empire' Invades — Maduro

The aircraft reportedly flew off Venezuelan cost for six hours to gather information on the country's missile defence systems, including the sophisticated Russian-made air defences S-300.

The alleged flyovers came after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blamed the United States for trying “to fabricate a crisis to justify political escalation and military intervention in Venezuela to bring a war to South America”.

Speaking to ABC News on Monday, Maduro also said that US President Donald Trump needs to fix his policy over Venezuela, adding that he is ready for a direct dialogue with Washington and that “the Cold War should stay behind”.

READ MORE: Maduro Accuses US of Using Humanitarian Crisis as Cover for Military Plans

Shortly after the United States and its several allies recognised Guaido, Maduro, for his part, accused Washington of trying to orchestrate a coup in his country. Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia and a number of other states reaffirmed their support for constitutionally elected Maduro as Venezuela’s only legitimate president.</s>Transcript for Venezuela's Maduro: US planning military invasion to get him out

an ABC news exclusive. Amid those horrific pictures from Venezuela, the food and aid from the U.S. Set on fire, tonight, the embattled leader, Nicolas maduro, trying to hold on, sitting down just moments ago with our Tom llamas. Maduro with a message for president trump and his administration tonight. Reporter: Tonight the tension building in Venezuela's power struggle. Aid trucks set on fire over the weekend, as opposition groups tried in vain to bring over much-needed food and medical supplies, donated by the united States. Tonight in a rare review inside of his presidential palace, Nicolas maduro telling ABC news he believes the U.S. Is preparing a military invasion to get him out. You think the U.S. Wants to invade Venezuela? Translator: The United States wants Venn swa la's oil and they're having to go to war for that oil. Reporter: Today, vice president Mike pence in Colombia to meet with Venezuela's interim president, Juan guaido, and other South American leaders opposed to maduro. Translator: Everything that the United States government has done has been condemned. They're trying to fabricate a crisis to justify political escalation and a military intervention in Venezuela to bring a war to South America. Reporter: But maduro refusing to budge. He says guaido is a puppet of the United States and that his country will not beg for the U.S. Help. Translator: Our movement came from the depths of the Venezuelan people. We've been governing democratically for 20 years. Everything that we are, everything that we have, we have because of the popular vote. Reporter: David, we wrapped up that sit-down interview just moments ago, and president maduro made it very clear, he wants to talk to president trump. He wants to shake his hand and tell him he's confused about Venezuela. The problem is, the trump administration has made it clear, they do not want to negotiate with him. David? Tom llamas with us tonight from Venezuela, interviewing president maduro. Tom, our thanks to you. And we are also following</s>After his militias and national guardsmen attacked aid caravans trying to feed his starving citizens, Venezuela’s appeared on state television over the weekend dancing the salsa. The dictator’s point was clear: I’m not rattled. I’m not going anywhere.

This is the context for US Senator Marco Rubio’s cryptic counterprogramming on Twitter. On Sunday he tweeted before and after photos of the late Moammar Al Qaddafi of Libya. In the first he was smiling in sunglasses; in the second he was bloodied and fleeing a mob. Six hours later, Rubio tweeted a similar side-by-side of the late Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania, first giving an angry speech and then facing a firing squad.

The reaction was fierce. Some Twitter users began a campaign to report Rubio’s account for encouraging violence. Other activists began an online petition urging his resignation. Venezuela’s foreign minister told Democracy Now he was appalled.

For the Latin American left, Rubio’s tweets play into America’s Cold War history of supporting strong men and encouraging coups. The most infamous moment came on Sept. 11, 1973, when Chilean military officers — at the urging of the CIA — toppled President Salvador Allende, who was shot during the coup. (It’s disputed whether he took his own life.) The left watches what’s happening now in Venezuela and sees the American gringos up to their old tricks.

 



ALSO READ: What on earth is going on in Venezuela? The story so far and what to expect

But this analysis crumbles under even the mildest scrutiny. Venezuela in 2019 is nothing like Chile in 1973. Allende won a real election in 1970. Maduro prevailed in a fake one last year. Maduro’s opposition is not a junta of military generals storming the presidential palace. It is the National Assembly, the country’s only institution with any democratic legitimacy. In short: In Chile in 1973, coup plotters sought to nullify an election; in Venezuela today, opposition leaders are seeking a new one.

Most important, at least from the perspective of the US, there is no comprehensive military intervention in the offing. It’s rue that President Donald Trump has asked his advisers about the feasibility of an intervention. It’s also true that senior administration officials like to say “all options” remain on the table; if Maduro sends his thugs to attack the US embassy, for example, there will be a military response.

But this is more about messaging than military action. When a president wants to start a war, he doesn’t position the US Agency for Development at the border. He sends in the Marines.

What’s more, Venezuela’s interim president, Juan Guaido, is not asking America to invade Venezuela. So far, US policy has been to persuade its allies to recognize his presidency; to sanction Maduro, his regime and the national oil company; and to urge the military to defect. It’s regime change through private and public diplomacy.

This is the approach emphasized Monday at a meeting of Latin American countries formed to address the crisis caused by Maduro’s misrule. The so-called Lima Group made it clear that it was not endorsing an invasion or military force for now. Instead it announced plans to take Maduro himself to the Criminal Court.

Skeptics may ask how Guaido will force Maduro to leave without guns or a foreign army. But Guaido’s method of appealing to the conscience of the military and organizing the population has worked before — in Serbia in 2000 and in Egypt in 2010. In both countries, the military stood down in the face of popular defiance.

So far Guaido has had modest success with the military. There has been a steady trickle of defections, according to the opposition and news reports. Over the weekend, a journalist tweeted a photo of a boarding pass to China through Russia for the children of one of Maduro’s top allies, Diosdado Cabello.

The crucial fact to remember here is that time is not on Maduro’s side. As their access to capital and bank accounts is constricted, Maduro and his henchmen will find it harder to stay in power. Eventually his most important international backers, Russia and China, will want their debts repaid. Maduro has no chance of doing that with international sanctions on the oil industry.

Add to this that many of the Venezuelan military’s top officers have children studying in the US and other countries that are now recognizing Guaido as interim president. And though Guaido has not yet gotten many high-level defections, neither has the military taken decisive action to keep Maduro in power.

This is not to say that Guaido himself does not also face challenges. He has to keep a fractious opposition together and ward off rivals who see him as too young to lead Venezuela’s transition back to democracy. That said, Maduro’s position now is more perilous.

All of which relates back to Rubio’s tweets. The senator was not threatening intervention or a coup. His message is better understood as a warning about what can happen when a tyrant stays too long. Ceausescu and Qaddafi didn’t learn this lesson until it was too late. Maduro and his family are running out of time.</s>Opposition leader Juan Guaido has called on the international community to consider “all options” to resolve Venezuela’s crisis, a dramatic escalation in rhetoric that echoes comments from the Trump administration hinting at potential U.S. military involvement.

Guaido’s comments late Saturday came after a tumultuous day that saw President Nicolas Maduro’s forces fire tear gas and buckshot on activists trying to deliver humanitarian aid in violent clashes that left two people dead and some 300 injured.

For weeks, the U.S. and regional allies had been amassing emergency food and medical kits on Venezuela’s borders in anticipation of carrying out a “humanitarian avalanche” by land and sea to undermine Maduro’s rule.

With activists failing to penetrate government blockades and deliver the aid, Guaido announced late Saturday that he would escalate his appeal to the international community — beginning with a meeting Monday in Colombia’s capital with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on the sidelines of an emergency summit of leaders of the so-called Lima Group to discuss Venezuela’s crisis.

He said he would urge the international community to keep “all options open” in the fight to restore Venezuela’s democracy, using identical language to that of President Donald Trump, who in his public statements has repeatedly refused to rule out force and reportedly even secretly pressed aides as early as 2017 about the possibility of a military incursion.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also stepped up the belligerent rhetoric, saying on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that Maduro’s “days are numbered.”

A close Guadio ally, Julio Borges, the exiled leader of congress who is Guaido’s ambassador to the Lima Group, was even more explicit in urging a military option. “We are going to demand an escalation of diplomatic pressure … and the use of force against Nicolas Maduro’s dictatorship,” he said Sunday.

It’s a prospect that analysts warn risks fracturing a hard-won coalition of Latin American nations who’ve come together to pressure Maduro’s socialist government. Most Latin American governments, even conservative ones like those in neighboring Colombia and Brazil, are on the record opposing a military solution and would face huge dissent should they back any military action led by the U.S., whose interventions in the region during the Cold War remain an open wound.

“These governments know they would face a huge tide of internal opinion greatly offended by a US-led invasion for historical and political reasons,” said Ivan Briscoe, the Latin America director for the Crisis Group, a Belgium-based think tank.

At the same time, though polls say Venezuelans overwhelmingly want Maduro to resign, almost an equal number reject the possibility of a foreign invasion to resolve the political impasse.

Resting at the foot of the Simon Bolivar bridge as work crews in Colombia began removing debris left by the unrest, Claudia Aguilar said she would support a military invasion but worries it would lead to more bloodshed.

The 29-year-old pregnant mother of three said she crossed illegally into Colombia on Sunday to buy a bag of rice and pasta for her family after Maduro ordered a partial closure of the border two days earlier.

“We’re with fear, dear God, of what will happen,” she said standing near the dirt trail she took to sneak across the border. “More blood, more deaths. The president of Venezuela does whatever he wants.”

In addition to weakening multilateral pressure against Maduro, analysts say the opposition saber rattling also risks undermining Guaido’s goal of peeling off support from the military, the country’s crucial powerbroker.

The 35-year-old Guaido has won the backing of more than 50 governments around the world since declaring himself interim president at a rally in January, arguing that Maduro’s re-election last year was illegitimate because some popular opposition candidates were barred from running.

But he’s so far been unable to cause a major rift inside the military, despite repeated appeals and the offer of amnesty to those joining the opposition’s fight for power.

“How many of you national guardsmen have a sick mother? How many have kids in school without food,” he implored Saturday night, standing next to a warehouse where 600 tons of food and medicine have been stockpiled on the Colombian border. “You don’t owe any obedience to a sadist … who celebrates the denial of humanitarian aid the country needs.”

Maduro has deftly courted support from the military since becoming president in 2013, offering top commanders key posts in his cabinet, including the presidency of state-run oil giant PDVSA, the source of virtually all of Venezuela’s dollar earnings.

More than 100 members of the security forces, most of them lower-rank soldiers, deserted and took refuge inside Colombia during Saturday’s unrest, according to migration officials. But none of them was higher ranked than a National Guard major, and there’s been little suggestion any battalion or division commanders are willing to defect despite almost daily calls by Guaido and the U.S.

To be sure, there’s no indication the U.S. is planning a military invasion and Trump has made a habit of threatening friends and foes alike — China, North Korea and Canada among them — only to dial back the rhetoric down the road. Washington still has more diplomatic tools available, including extending oil sanctions to punish non-American entities that conduct business with Maduro’s government in much the way such sanctions strangled communist Cuba for decades.

Still, as early as 2017, Trump reportedly raised the possibility of a U.S. military incursion in Venezuela similar to the 1989 invasion that led to the ouster of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, both in an Oval Office meeting with then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other aides, as well as at a session with leaders of four Latin American allies on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, according to a senior administration official who has since left the White House.

In both cases Trump abandoned the war talk at the urging of his advisers and allies in the region. Prior to the current crisis, there was never any war planning by the military, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the private conversations.

Still, momentum toward a confrontation seems to be building as hopes for a quick crumbling of Maduro’s government fade.

“It acts like a magnet,” said Briscoe of the possibility of a U.S.-led intervention. “As Plan A and B fail, it’s where everyone seems to be going. But the further you move in that direction, you weaken the multilateral approach and reduce the possibility that large parts of the military will turn against Maduro.”</s>GENEVA: Venezuela’s foreign minister on Wednesday called for direct talks between President Nicolas Maduro and his US counterpart Donald Trump to help ease the crisis in the country.

 The call from Venezuela’s top diplomat Jorge Arreaza came in an address to the United Nations Human Rights Council that was boycotted by multiple diplomats including from Latin America and Europe.

 “We are proposing the path of dialogue, even with the United States… Why shouldn’t they meet, President Trump and President Maduro?” Arreaza said.

 The United States does not sit in the rights council following Trump’s decision to quit the body last year. But the American envoy to the UN’s Conference on Disarmament (CoD) Robert Wood walked out of that chamber as another Venezuelan diplomat, Felix Plasencia, took the podium.

 Several Latin American, European and other diplomats also joined Wood’s walkout.

 Asked later about the prospects of a Trump-Maduro summit, Wood told reporters: “President Trump is prepared to meet with the rightful president of Venezuela and that is Juan Guaido.”

 Arreaza denounced what he described as a campaign of “aggression” being perpetrated by the United States against Venezuela, including an international assault on the government’s foreign assets.

 He said Washington’s actions were depriving ordinary Venezuelans of food and medicine, and called on the rights council to “raise its voice” against the American “blockade.” Wood said it was a “disgrace” that Maduro’s representatives were being allowed to address UN bodies.

 Wednesday’s walkouts in the rights council and disarmament chamber “sent a very powerful message,” he added.

 “The former Maduro regime should not be allowed to try to continue to represent the Venezuelan people,” Wood said.

 Meanwhile, the Chinese and Russian foreign ministers voiced their opposition to military action in Venezuela.

 Russia and China, which have had close relations with Maduro over the years, have repeatedly warned against any foreign interference in Venezuela, while Washington has backed the opposition leader.

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated Moscow’s assertion that the United States was using aid deliveries as a pretext to carry out military action in Venezuela.

 “We are working together with all the countries that are no less than us concerned by the scenario of a military interference,” Lavrov at a previously planned meeting with his Indian and Chinese counterparts in the Chinese city of Wuzhen.

 “I believe the US should listen to what the countries in the region think,” he added.

 The United States is among some 50 countries that recognise opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president, while Maduro still enjoys the diplomatic support of Russia and China.

 Trump has said that Washington is not ruling out armed action, while US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said he was confident that “Maduro’s days are numbered.” Earlier this week, the US said it would ask the UN Security Council to adopt a draft resolution demanding that humanitarian aid be allowed into Venezuela — a major escalation in its diplomatic campaign in support of Guaido — and announced $56 million in aid to Venezuelans. — AFP</s>Venezuela's foreign minister on Wednesday called for direct talks between President Nicolas Maduro and Donald Trump to address the country's crisis -- a proposal swiftly rejected by the White House, which recognizes the opposition.

The call from Venezuela's top diplomat Jorge Arreaza came in an address to the United Nations Human Rights Council that was boycotted by multiple diplomats including from Latin America and Europe.

"We are proposing the path of dialogue, even with the United States... Why shouldn't they meet, President Trump and President Maduro?" Arreaza said.

The United States does not sit on the rights council following Trump's decision to quit the body last year.

But the American envoy to the U.N.'s Conference on Disarmament (CoD) Robert Wood walked out of the chamber as another Venezuelan diplomat, Felix Plasencia, took the podium.

Wood, asked about the prospects of a Trump-Maduro summit, told reporters: "President Trump is prepared to meet with the rightful president of Venezuela and that is Juan Guaido."

Vice President Mike Pence said the United States only recognizes Guaido -- whom he met earlier this week in Colombia in a show of support.

"The only thing to discuss with Maduro at this point is the time and date for his departure," Pence tweeted.

"For democracy to return and for Venezuela to rebuild -- Maduro must go," he wrote.

Guaido declared himself acting president on Jan. 23 until new elections were held, and was recognized by Australia, Canada, Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Brazil, Chile, Panama, Argentina, Costa Rica and the U.S. The European Parliament took a step in the same direction.

Turkey, Russia, Iran, Cuba, China, and Bolivia reiterate support for Maduro, who vowed to cut all diplomatic and political ties with the U.S.

Arreaza denounced what he described as a campaign of "aggression" being perpetrated by the United States against Venezuela, including an international assault on the government's foreign assets.

He said Washington's actions were depriving ordinary Venezuelans of food and medicine, and called on the rights council to "raise its voice" against the American "blockade."

The US has ramped up the pressure on the Maduro regime with sanctions against top officials, and the promise to exempt those who recognize Guaido as their true leader.

An estimated 2.7 million people have fled Venezuela since a devastating political and economic crisis engulfed the country in 2015, according to the U.N.
Two United States military officials tell CNN that the U.S. military has flown reconnaissance flights in international airspace off the coast of Venezuela during the last several days to gather classified intelligence about President Nicolás Maduro.