U.S. Presses Latin American Allies to Turn China against Maduro
U.S. Presses Latin American Allies to Turn China against Maduro
AS/COA's Eric Farnsworth speaks to McClatchy about the current situation in Venezuela and the role China plays.
The United States is pressing Latin American leaders to deliver a message to China: Beijing is damaging its image in the Western Hemisphere and putting billions of its investment at risk by propping up Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
According to diplomats and sources familiar with the discussions between Trump’s national security team and Latin American leaders, China has become a key part of the U.S.-supported international pressure campaign to isolate Maduro and remove him from Venezuela...
Today, the region largely stands aligned with the United States and Guaidó with the exception of Bolivia, Cuba and Nicaragua.
Eric Farnsworth, who served as the senior advisor to the White House Special Envoy for the Americas from 1995-1998, said China must consider what leaders are more likely to obtain the needed financing and resources to reboot the nation’s oil industry that has become crippled by the Maduro government’s mismanagement despite sitting on one of the world’s largest oil reserves.
“You need to have international support to refloat the oil economy in Venezuela in order to get production up,” said Farnworth, who is now a vice president of the Council of the Americas in Washington, D.C. “If you get production to increase, the likelihood increases that your loans are paid back.”...
