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Whether it has been the stern “hands off” warning of the Monroe Doctrine or Teddy Roosevelt’s advice to “speak softly and carry a big stick,” American Presidents have not been shy about how they handle the nations of Central and South America. President Trump has been no exception, as he has been vocal about his opposition to Venezuelan strongman Nicholas Maduro’s handling of just about everything from the opioid crisis to his releasing the prisoners in Venezuela’s jails to head across the formerly wide-open border into the United States. In the latest posturing, Trump has sent U.S. Navy ships to the Caribbean, but what is the end game? WOR White House correspondent Jon Decker appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to offer an interpretation into what the naval deployment in the Caribbean means for the neighbors in America’s backyard.
Decker told host Larry Mendte that Trump may want to negotiate with Maduro, but he has ordered the U.S. Navy nearby to send a different message: “On Sunday he said he wants to talk to Nicholas Maduro… [however] you have the Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford, now in the Caribbean, and they are sending a very important message to Nicholas Maduro. The President would very much like to see him leave power in Venezuela, and what better way to do it [than] by showing this naval force in the Caribbean… a lot of firepower that can be used against Nicholas Maduro and his regime, if the President wishes to do that.”
Decker suggested that Trump may also be sending a message of dissatisfaction with the policies of other nations in Latin America: “So the President really flexing his muscles, and it’s at odds with what the President campaigned on… the President really has been reluctant to use military force, certainly boots on the ground, while he’s President of the United States, and yet that’s exactly what the President is threatening right now.”
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