In this podcast, Mark Feierstein, NSC senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs in the Obama White House, lays out a multi-pronged strategy for pressuring the Maduro regime ahead of 2018 elections.
"The Trump administration has a policy goal for Venezuela, but is split on how to pursue it," said Mark Feierstein, former senior director for the Western Hemisphere at the National Security Council, at AS/COA's Venezuela panel.
"[Venezuela's President Maduro] seems to be clearing the decks for a presidential run in 2018, trying to reduce the stature and perhaps the freedom of anyone who might be a countervailing center of power," said AS/COA's Eric Farnsworth.
“The potential for massive corruption is huge and Venezuela has become a society that’s really overtaken by corruption,” said AS/COA's Eric Farnsworth in response to Venezuela's plans to launch a national crypto-currency.
The Maduro administration has Sunday's municipal elections mostly in hand. But there's a bigger prize on the horizon.
“[President Maduro] clearly needs the military in order to maintain control," observed AS/COA's Eric Farnsworth.
Latin Americans will vote for nine new presidents in two years, along with more than 2,900 legislators.