Three major actors – President Maduro, President Trump, and the EU – each want to have a say in what will happen to the future of Venezuela, but the issue is that their strategies work towards largely disparate goals. While President Maduro wants to maintain his political hold for as long as possible, President Trump wants to oust Mr. Maduro entirely and replace him with the currently recognized sitting president, Juan Guaido, and at the same time, the EU wants to help negotiate a transition to democracy between both politicians and their coalitions. Most Venezuelans disagree with a plan of invasion to oust the current regime, but even with a peaceful transition to democracy the question remains of what suitable punishment for the political leaders and military allies should look like. While these three sides calculate the possible approaches to the situation, the humanitarian crisis affecting millions of Venezuelans worsens. Now with Covid-19 present in the country, the health system also faces the possibility of a total collapse.
Full report available online at GIS Reports.