by VIJAY PRASHAD & ERIKA ORTEGA SANOJA
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Venezuela confirmed this week the overt efforts over the last year of the US government to carry out a coup d’état against president Nicolás Maduro
On August 4, 2020, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on Venezuela. Appearing before the committee was US State Department Special Representative Elliott Abrams. Abrams, who has had a long—and controversial—career in the formation of US foreign policy, was assaulted by almost all the members of the Senate committee. The senators, almost without exception, suggested that Abrams had been—since 2019—responsible for a failed US attempt to overthrow the Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro.
From Republican Senator Mitt Romney to Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, Abrams received a severe tongue-lashing. There was no disagreement in the committee about the goals of US policy, namely to overthrow—with force if necessary—the government of President Maduro. Murphy laid out the timeline of Trump’s policy, which began with the recognition of minor Venezuelan politician Juan Guaidó as president of Venezuela in January 2019 to the current moment, including how the United States—in Murphy’s words—“tried to sort of construct a kind of coup in April of last year.”
Abrams was unfazed. “Obviously we hope that [Maduro] will not survive the year and we are working hard to make that happen,” he said. The policy—including “a kind of coup”—remains intact. Abrams has now added another file to his post: he will be Trump’s special representative on Iran; the man who failed to conduct regime change in Venezuela is now going to deepen US attempts to overthrow the government in Iran.
Venezuelan Reaction
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