Former Undersecretary of Defense Robert Wilkie warned Saturday on Newsmax that rising U.S. pressure on Venezuela signals a potentially pivotal moment for the country's leadership.
Responding to a Truth Social post in which President Donald Trump urged pilots, airlines, and criminal networks to avoid Venezuelan airspace, calling it "closed in its entirety," Wilkie said on "America Right Now" the message reflects a deliberate escalation aimed at Venezuela's military and "the pressure is being ratcheted up to a new level."
"And what I mean by that is, there is a play here to the Venezuelan military to say 'you need to take care of this problem because your nation is already a pariah – your economy, it's already broken because the communists like [Nicolás] Maduro and before him, [Hugo] Chavez. But if you don't do something, then Venezuela will spiral into continued chaos,'" Wilkie said.
He compared the strategy to past U.S. actions in the region, noting that even former President George H.W. Bush intervened in Panama, countering claims that Trump's posture is uniquely aggressive.
Highlighting the broader regional stakes, Wilkie pointed to the tens of thousands of Americans killed annually by drug cartels and the devastating impact of fentanyl, noting that U.S. overdose deaths each year now double the number of American combat deaths recorded over a decade in Vietnam.
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James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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