<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<div class="container font-size5 content-width3">
<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Who-Is-John-Bolton-Trumps-Man-Behind-Plot-Against-Venezuela-20181213-0019.html">https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Who-Is-John-Bolton-Trumps-Man-Behind-Plot-Against-Venezuela-20181213-0019.html</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Who Is John Bolton, Trump's Man Behind
Plot Against Venezuela</h1>
13 December 2018 </div>
<hr>
<div class="content">
<div class="moz-reader-content line-height4 reader-show-element">
<div id="readability-page-1" class="page">
<div>
<p>In a press conference, Wednesday Maduro accused John
Bolton, United States President Donald Trump’s national
security advisor, of plotting to kill him. Bolton, a
conservative, is a strong proponent of unilateral U.S.
foreign policy and a notorious war hawk who has shown
himself to be remarkably boorish and tactless for a
diplomat.</p>
<p>"Mr. John Bolton has been assigned, once again, as the
chief of a plot to fill Venezuela with violence and to
seek a foreign military intervention," Venezuelan
President Nicolas Maduro said in a news conference
Wednesday.</p>
<p>Maduro added that Bolton was coordinating the training
of mercenaries in military bases in Colombia and the
U.S. His comments came just days after Russian bombers
landed in Venezuela to carry out joint military
exercises.</p>
<p>Bolton worked under Ronald Reagan and was the former
United Nations ambassador under George W. Bush, though
he expressed contempt for the organization, as he
famously said, “there is no U.N. There is an
international community that occasionally can be led by
the only real power left in the world, and that’s the
United States, when it suits our interests.”</p>
<p>Bolton has advocated for the U.S. to pull out of the
Iranian Nuclear Deal, which the country did shortly
after Bolton was appointed earlier this year. He has
also referred to Palestine as a “so-called state,”
saying that it does not meet the requirements for a
legitimate nation.</p>
<p>His view of democratically elected, progressive
governments in Latin America -- specifically Cuba,
Nicaragua, and Venezuela, which he’s referred to as a
"troika of tyranny" -- is very much in line with his
unilateral, U.S. supremacy worldview.</p>
<p>“Under this administration,” he said, “we will no
longer appease dictators and despots near our shores in
this hemisphere. We will not reward firing squads,
torturers, and murderers."</p>
<p>However, Bolton has praised Brazil’s far-right
president-elect Jair Bolsonaro, who has also been an
outspoken supporter of the Chilean dictatorship of
Pinochet, saying his election was a "positive sign" for
the region.</p>
<p>In a speech at Miami Dade College's Freedom Tower,
Bolton said that "the recent elections of like-minded
leaders in key countries, including Ivan Duque in
Colombia, and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil are positive
signs for the future of the region, and demonstrate a
growing regional commitment to free-market principles
and open, transparent, and accountable governance."</p>
<p>The rise of the right-wing in Latin America has been
imminent, as the U.S. government has increased its
attacks on progressive leftist governments in the
region.</p>
<p>The Trump administration has levied several rounds of
sanctions against Venezuela since 2017.</p>
<p>Trump said last year that "the military option" was on
the table with regards to Venezuela, fueling Maduro's
contention that Washington seeks to overthrow his
leftist government, which U.S. officials deny.</p>
<p>Bolton is a longtime opponent of leftist governments in
Latin America and he announced the most recent sanctions
against Venezuela last month as part of a pledge to
crack down on Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.</p>
<p>Bolton said "this is not a time to back away. It’s a
time to increase the pressure, not reduce it." Bolton
also announced new sanctions against Venezuela and Cuba,
including a ban on U.S. citizens that are trading with
Venezuelan gold.</p>
<p>Though the U.S. considers Venezuela a dictatorship,
Maduro’s accusations against Bolton come after
democratic, municipal elections across the country, in
which the governing United Socialist Party on Sunday won
the majority of seats. The United States embassy in
Caracas made several public statements through its
Twitter account ahead of the elections that clearly
showed its rejection of the elections and its support
for the opposition and anti-democratic factions in the
country who have refused to participate in more than six
elections over the past 18 months. </p>
<p>“Our message to the world is: it’s time to defend
Venezuela!” Maduro said. “Venezuela will not be a victim
of a neo-fascist aggression.”</p>
<p>“We will not retreat, we will not be brought to our
knees, we will not give up. We will fight and we will
guarantee Venezuela peace … whatever the price." </p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://freedomarchives.org/">https://freedomarchives.org/</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>