U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, after meeting with a half dozen South Florida Venezuelan-American leaders, has called on President Donald Trump to impose tough sanctions against the regime of Venezuela strongman Nicolas Maduro to “starve” the South American ruler from power.
“What needs to happen is that Donald Trump needs to put the sanctions back on Venezuela and starve the regime, not enrich Maduro” by continuing to allow Venezuelan oil to flow to foreign buyers, she told reporters while appearing alongside two leaders of the Venezuela-American Caucus at her district office in Sunrise on Thursday.
The Democratic congresswoman also asserted that the Pentagon’s military assaults in international waters against alleged drug traffickers from Venezuela — a campaign that has resulted in an estimated 61 deaths in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific thus far — have occurred “with no evidence, due process or congressional authorization.”
“Extrajudicial murder of Venezuelans is what Maduro does, it is not what America should do,” she said.
Disbelief and disappointment
Wasserman Schultz made her remarks after meeting privately with six Venezuelan community leaders. Only two appeared to meet with reporters to discuss the potential for mass deportations of 600,000 Venezuelans after the Trump administration removed their temporary protected status this summer.
Adelys Ferro, the executive director of the Venezuela-American Caucus and a member of the Latino Victory Project, and Luis Fernando Atencio, co-founder of the caucus, told reporters that they preferred a peaceful transition of power from Maduro, who most observers say stole a presidential election last year and jailed political opponents. The two leaders said the Venezuelan community is in a state of “disbelief” and “disappointment” after Trump invalidated the protections that allowed them to stay in South Florida and elsewhere around the nation.
“What he is doing, in many ways, sadly, is very similar to what we know, what we have experienced back in Venezuela. And that similarity doesn’t have to do with any political way of thinking,” Ferro said.
Wasserman Schultz added, “Many of the Venezuelans in my district and across South Florida fled the brutality and despotism of the Maduro regime [and] many have family members who are still there.”
“Deal with a devil”
“[Trump] cut a deal with the devil Maduro to deport hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to a country where they know they will face oppression, danger, persecution and arrest — and I am talking about people who have never committed crimes,” she said. The deal, she asserted, allowed Maduro to continue to sell oil “and continue to remain in power.”
Earlier this year, the administration renewed a license for the multinational energy conglomerate Chevron to resume oil drilling in the South American nation.
“Donald Trump can pretend off to the side with his distractions that he has the best interests of Venezuelans in restoring democracy at heart,” she added. “But the stories I hear from across our community including today at our roundtable underscore that the opposite is true.
“Trump’s presidency has been an unending nightmare for Venezuelan-Americans here and around the country,” she added. “He has ripped away temporary protected status from law-abiding families and thrown countless families into terror through raids conducted by agents in masks.”
The meeting came one day before a flurry of reports emerged — and were subsequently denied by the administration — that a U.S. ships and troops amassed in the southern Caribbean are close to launching a series of attacks on various locations inside Venezuela.
A salad of actions
Since starting his second term in the White House, Trump has undertaken a salad bowl approach for dealing with the Venezuelan regime.
The reported actions include:
— A prisoner swap with the regime that saw the release of 10 American citizens in exchange for 250 deported Venezuelan nationals held in a prison in El Salvador.
— Renewal of a U.S. Treasury license — previously revoked by Trump — for the oil multinational Chevron to resume doing business in Venezuela.
— Removal of temporary protected status for 600,000 Venezuelans in the U.S. and the start of deportations.
— Establishment of a $50 million reward for the arrest of Maduro as a “narco-terrorist.”
— Rejection of offers from a worried Maduro regime to cede natural resource rights in Venezuela to the U.S.
— Authorization of the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.
— Dispatch of U.S. ships and warplanes including the massive aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to the Caribbean.
Toward a “peaceful” political transition
Wasserman Schultz cast doubt over whether an attempt at a forceful U.S.-led regime change would end well.
“Our track record in the United States is abhorrent when it comes to regime change, particularly in Latin America, and he is alienating Latin American leaders who are opposed to Maduro, but who are starting to sympathize more with him because of Trump’s illegal actions,” she said.
“We have to make sure that we build consensus and that we starve Maduro out of power through really significant sanctions and pressure through regional unity,” she added.
Luis Atencio asserted that “Venezuela is in dire need of a political transition.”
“This political transition has to be democratic, peaceful, but also centered on justice,” he added. “This pathway was opened up last year when Venezuelans elected Edmundo Gonzalez as our president-elect. Above all else, this has to be respected and maintained.”
Gonzalez has been living in exile in Spain after a 2024 election in which most domestic and international observers agreed he had soundly defeated Maduro, who rejected the results and retained power.
“It would be opportune to thank the United States and representatives such as Debbie Wasserman Schultz for always having our back and standing with us whenever we needed it the most,” Atencio said.
But in the interest of reconciliation among all Venezuelans, he said, it is “extremely important” that the effort remain centered on the rule of law and human rights.
“If these principles aren’t followed we know that true liberty in Venezuela cannot be attained,” Atencio said.