Amb. Romero: Venezuela Strategy Should Avoid US Boots on the Ground

Former U.S. Ambassador Peter Romero said he hoped there would be “no [U.S.] boots on the ground” after U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro early Saturday outside the capital, Caracas. The U.S. action came after months of escalating pressure from Washington and public comments from President Donald Trump, who said in a news conference Saturday that the United States would “run the country” to prepare it for post-Maduro free and fair elections. Romero, who served as U.S. ambassador to Ecuador and assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said direct U.S. control of Venezuela would be “a prescription for disaster” if Washington bypasses Venezuelan opposition figures such as María Corina Machado and Edmundo González, both of whom had competed in legitimate elections. Romero said he hoped the president’s rhetoric was intended as a “negotiating threat” aimed at pressuring the current leadership toward a democratic transition. He stressed that the United States should avoid any military presence in Venezuela, saying American boots on the ground would produce an effect opposite to what Washington would want.