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.
Venezuela
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.