Trump’s team wants Maduro to leave Venezuela

(Axios)- The incoming Trump administration wants regime change in Venezuela, where dictator Nicolás Maduro stole his election, jailed a rival and this month even threatened to invade the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

Why it matters: Venezuela under Maduro has been a massive problem for Latin America and the U.S. It’s accounted for the largest modern-day migration in the Western Hemisphere — nearly 8 million people have fled Maduro’s regime in the past decade.

• Trump’s team says it wants Maduro to go the way of recently toppled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. But regime change doesn’t necessarily mean military action, Trump advisers say.
• “We wouldn’t mind one bit seeing Maduro being neighbors with Assad in Moscow,” a Trump adviser involved with foreign policy discussions told Axios.

Zoom in: During his campaign, Trump accused Maduro of intentionally sending criminal gangs such as Tren de Aragua to the U.S.

• Oil-rich, cash-poor Venezuela is “governed by a narco-trafficking organization that has empowered itself as a nation-state,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio — who once was targeted by a Venezuelan assassination plot — said Wednesday in his confirmation hearing to be Trump’s secretary of state.
• Venezuela’s closest ally is Cuba, America’s oldest Latin American foe. Maduro’s regime also is aligned with China, Russia and Iran, which is building drones in Venezuela, Rubio testified.

What’s next: Trump sanctioned Venezuela during his first term, but it’s unclear what the president-elect wants to do to push Maduro out of office.

• Trump’s interest in regime change in Venezuela has been heightened by President Biden’s last-minute decision Tuesday to loosen U.S. restrictions on Cuba, whose socialist regime Trump sees as the hub of Latin America’s problems.
• “It’s not sustainable,” the Trump adviser involved with foreign policy talks said of the situation in Venezuela. Maduro is “literally ruining the country … massive refugee issues, sending criminals to the United States, oil production is down, and there are Chinese, Russians and Cubans in there.”

The big picture: Trump’s interest in Venezuela is part of a broader, emerging national security policy that’s anything but the isolationist model his “America First” theme often has seemed to project — especially when it comes to the Western Hemisphere.

• Since the November election, Trump has renewed his interest in acquiring Greenland or expanding the U.S. presence there for strategic reasons.
• He’s also threatened to take back control of the Panama Canal out of concern about China’s presence there.