Admiral James Stavridis (USN, Ret.), Former Allied Supreme Commander of NATO and Commander of U.S. Southern Command, On #VenezuelanSpring

[Valin]

Hugh Hewitt Show

Hugh Hewitt

Jan. 28 2019

Audio

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HH: We are. Let’s start with your experience there, Southern Command, your knowledge of the country and its military.

JS: Indeed. I spent a lot of time in and out of there several years back when I was commander of Southern Command. And it’s a capable military by the standards of the region. It certainly has the power to keep Maduro in power unless there’s a huge political press against that, or even a military press against it. So they’re capable, and we ought to remember, sadly, they’ve been trained by the Cubans. So there is a linkage between these two dictatorships. This is a rotten apple that I hope falls.

HH: Now four months ago, you wrote a piece for Bloomberg – Suffering Venezuelans Need the U.S. to Stay Hands Off, which was my opinion at the time, and it was also the opinion of H.R. McMaster when I interviewed him, the opinion of most senior American administration officials, that there had to be an organic Venezuelan spring. It appears we have one on our hands. How optimistic are you?

JS: I’m quite optimistic. I think there’s a two in three chance that the Maduro regime goes down. And it, a couple things have come together. One is this dynamic, very young 35 year old leader, Juan Guaido, and second is the ongoing press of the economic meltdown in the country with inflation rates approaching a million percent. And thirdly, it’s the humanitarian crisis that’s built with millions pushed outside the country, and even more millions displaced inside the country, a country of 31 million, Hugh, probably 10 million people living on the edge of starvation. So this is happening in front of us. And I think because of those factors, it demands a very robust response.

HH: Now we have a response thus far that includes the President, backed by the Secretary of State, at the UN, and John Bolton on Twitter and on social media disintermediating a country from its sovereign wealth. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before. I’ve seen individuals disintermediated from their money, but we are disintermediating Venezuela from their sovereign wealth. You know, as a Carlyle Group executive, that’s got to introduce some uncertainty into the investing world when governments do this. But maybe this is the exception that proves the rule.

JS: I think this is an extreme exception, but I think it’s a strategy that makes a lot of sense given the moment we’re in. Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. They are, and ought to be an extremely wealthy, well-run country, but they are not. And we are at a stage here where I would advocate using all political and economic levers to the max, and looking at what the potential military options could be. I don’t think we have to get to a full-on military result here, but I think that if we use a strategy like extreme economic pressure, we can topple this regime.

 

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[Valin]

The Disaster That Is Venezuela, on Fox Business

John Hinderaker

Jan. 28 2019

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