WASHINGTON -
VOA Contributor Greta Van Susteren interviews National Security Advisor John Bolton on topics including Venezuela sanctions, Russian and Chinese involvement in Venezuela, Hong Kong protests, North Korea, nuclear proliferation, Myanmar refugee crisis.
“Voice of America reaches all over the world, including directly into Venezuela and the surrounding countries. A lot of chaos going on there. What’s the message that you want to get to the people of Venezuela. What do they need to know about American policy?”
“Well that we are entirely behind their justifiable desire to be able to control their own government to get rid of this authoritarian military regime that’s basically ruined the economy of the country over the last twenty years. The nations of the Western Hemisphere are almost unanimously behind their desire to see a peaceful transfer of power. Fifty six governments have recognized Juan Guaido as the legitimate interim president, that’s the first time that there’s ever been that kind of rejection of the Maduro regime. So times are hard in Venezuela now, that’s because of twenty years of mismanagement of the economy. But our desire is to see this peaceful transfer of power and have really true free elections.”
“Alright, in terms of the economic hardship. Part of it is due to sanctions. And the President has just upped the sanctions. So how do you respond to that? People in Venezuela may say that, yes, our country is on hard times, but these sanctions don’t help us.”
“Well the sanctions have been in place for roughly the last six months. Twenty years of economic mismanagement are really responsible for the country coming to a halt economically. When Chavez took power 20 years ago Venezuela pumped an average of three point three million barrels of oil per day. When the sanctions started they were down to one point one million barrels of oil per day. Two thirds reduction of drilling in oil in the country with the largest petroleum reserves in the world. This should be a very wealthy country. But 20 years have really destroyed the economy. The pressure we're putting on is on the regime, on the military, and on the leadership of the country that's basically stolen its revenues for 20 years.”
“The new sanctions are broader and I don’t want to misquote you, but you basically said, correct me if I'm wrong, that countries who do business with Venezuela are on notice that they better be careful. What does that mean? Am I right in that quote?”
“That's right. And that says to the government that we are going to prevent them from getting revenues that they've benefited from these last 20 years. We're also going to increase our effort to stop their trafficking and illegal narcotics out of Colombia and other places. And it's to say to everybody else that does deal with the regime that if you want to deal with a Democratic Venezuelan government, which is coming in the future, stop dealing with Maduro.”
“Well dealing with Maduro now includes Russia China and Cuba so what’s the message they should get from that?”
“Well they should stop interfering in Venezuela's internal affairs. You know the Opposition estimates there are between 20,000 and 25000 Cubans in Venezuela. They're really paramilitary and military functionaries. They may not wear uniforms but they're there not simply to support the Maduro regime, but to run it. And I would make this prediction if those 20,000 to 25000 Cubans went home at noon today, by midnight Maduro would no longer be in power. So if you're a Venezuelan you should be asking yourself why is our country going through all this turmoil to help support Cuba?”
“But the sanctions, I suppose, are meant to put the squeeze on Maduro perhaps getting people turned against him, his military. So far, with the earlier sanctions, we haven't seen the effect of the more recent ones, the military hasn't turned against him. What's your explanation for that?”