This Foreign Policy piece, “Venezuela is Armed to the Hilt,” written by two analysts from the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute, is based on the dubious premise that the Venezuelan armed forces are falling apart.
The Trump administration and opposition leader Juan Guaido believed that key senior officers would abandon the government. They didn’t. Without significant military defections, Guaido’s uprising by Tweet has “stalled,” or “unraveled” or “sputtered.” In other words, it is on the brink of failure.
In Washington, Guaido supporters cannot even get into the Venezuelan embassy, which is held by U.S. activists, invited by the Maduro government.
Now the Trump administration is studying “military options.” In other words: war.
As Pompeo and Bolton ponder attacking a sovereign country that poses no threat to the American people, the factual part of this story–that the Venezuelan military is very well-armed–is noteworthy.
in recent years Venezuela’s government has purchased Russia’s state-of-the-art S-300 anti-aircraft missiles; imported hundreds of thousands of Kalashnikov rifles and ammunition; and acquired 5,000 Igla-S MANPADS (man-portable air defense systems). And this is just what has been on public display in Venezuela’s military parades
Source: Venezuela Is Armed to the Hilt – Foreign Policy
In other words, U.S. military intervention would involve American soldiers fighting a well-armed adversaries.
