The political crisis in Latin America has deadly consequences for the US, the Venezuelan opposition party warns
As Venezuela’s political crisis reaches a tipping point, members of Venezuela’s opposition party warn of an escalation The violence of the Tren de Aragua gang with deadly consequences for the US if socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro remains in power.
Despite widespread belief among Venezuelans and much of the international community that Maduro lost the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election to an opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutiaon Friday he was sworn in for his third six-year term.
But with the leader of the opposition María Corina Machado calling on the citizens of Venezuela to join her in the streets to demand that González be installed as the true president of Venezuela, the stage is now set for a confrontation with the Maduro regime.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Machado, whose supporters said he temporarily hijacked by the authorities and then released after a rally on Thursday, warned that millions of Venezuelan migrants would flee the country to the US if Maduro was not stopped
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“If Maduro stays, get ready because we’re going to see three, four or five million Venezuelans crossing the border,” she said.
On the other hand, Machado told Fox News Digital: “I want you to know how important this is to the security of the American people as well.”
“We are also desperate to resolve migration problem in our region,” she said. “We want these Venezuelans to return in billions and voluntarily. And that will happen when they see that there is a future in their country.”
Meanwhile, José Gustavo Arocha, a former senior Venezuelan military official who fled persecution by the Maduro regime, told Fox News Digital that gang violence in the US by Maduro’s Tren de Aragua crime group will worsen if he remains president .
Tren de Aragua — also known by the acronym “TdA” — means “Train from Aragua” in Spanish. It is a brutal international gang that victimizes Venezuelan migrants and Americans alike and has unleashed a spate of violence in recent months, including kidnappings, torture, robberies and taking over entire residential buildings.
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Supporters of Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado hold their pictures during a campaign rally in Maracaibo, Zulia state, Venezuela, on July 23, 2024. (Raul Arboldea/AFP via Getty Images)
Arocha, who is now a senior fellow at the US Center for a Secure Free Society, told Fox News Digital that “if Maduro stays in power, he will likely use the Tren de Aragua as a coercive tool and an asymmetric tactic to achieve his goals.”
“Migration, armed with elements of the Tren de Aragua, will serve as a lever to seek the easing of economic sanctions and to gain legitimacy from the United States,” he said. “Repression, economic collapse and chaos in Venezuela will continue to be the cornerstone of Maduro’s state policy. As a result, migrants who have been deported are likely to return, as in recent years they have established logistical routes that allow them to move through clandestine routes along the southern part of Venezuela. border.”
Alberto Ray, a security and risk strategist helping Machado handle security, told Fox News Digital that the situation in Venezuela is “extremely explosive.” He said “more Maduro is more Tren de Aragua in the US”
These images from a CBP intelligence bulletin show tattoos and identifiers for Tren de Aragua (TdA). Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of known or suspected TdA members. (ICE)
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While Ray noted that most Venezuelan migrants are honest, hardworking people, he said Maduro is “weaponizing” migration to sow chaos and discord in the US. He said it was “inevitable” that the TdA presence in the US would grow if the Maduro regime continued.
“This is a very small fraction of the Venezuelans that have been introduced within these migration processes designed by the regime … but it doesn’t take too many to destabilize, to create chaos, to install an organized crime process within the US,” Ray said. “What will happen if Maduro stays in power is that more illegal and armed migration will continue to leave Venezuela and that increases the likelihood that the Tren de Aragua and other gangs will migrate and be around the region, including the US.”
On the other hand, Ray said that if Maduro is stopped, “we will see Venezuelans returning to Venezuela because many of them did not want to leave.”
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President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a news conference after testifying before the electoral council at the headquarters of the Supreme Court of Justice at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on August 2, 2024. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)
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While he said both the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration have been very supportive, Ray urged the US to take a strong stand against Maduro not only for the sake of Venezuelans but also for the sake of Americans. He called on the US government to shed light on what is happening in Venezuela and to strictly implement the already existing sanctions against Maduro and several members of his government.
He said “the next 72 hours will be critical.”
“Maduro has no one to support him except some factions within the armed forces, and he’s counting on those factions to support him and make him president,” Ray explained, adding: “There are not two sides here. There is a huge Venezuelan side that is democratic, and they seek and try to restore democracy to power which is desperately fighting to maintain its privileges and to maintain its position in power.”
